Driven by Revenge, Tri-Edge
by Sky EXE
Summary: Whenever Yoshika finds out about how her father really died, she grabs two forbidden swords and runs away from home, hoping to get stronger so she can have her revenge. What would happen if she encounters the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, the Strike Witches? Rated T for safety. Minor crossover with .hack/G.U. UNDERGOING RE-WRITE!
1. Chapter 1

**Driven by Revenge, Tri-Edge**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 1: How It All Began**

* * *

"Yoshika! It's time for dinner!" came the call of Sayaka Miyafuji, Yoshika's mother, from the kitchen of their family-owned Miyafuji Clinic in Fuso.

"Coming, mom!" Yoshika, who was at the age of ten, called. She ran to the kitchen where her mother and grandmother, Akimoto Yoshiko, were waiting for her. Tonight's dinner was a Miyafuji special dish, which was one of Yoshika's favorites.

The family of three sat down at the dining room table. "Thank you for the food!" the three said simultaneously, before Yoshika began eating at a fast pace, while her mother and grandmother ate at a more moderate pace. Interestingly enough, all three finished their dinner at the same time.

That was when somebody knocked on the door, causing Yoshika to jump in fright. She was a timid girl who is scared easily and is also pretty shy. The only ones she acts normally with are her family and her childhood friend, Michiko Yamakawa, who Yoshika likes to call "Micchan."

"I'll get it." Sayaka said, while Akimoto tried to coax Yoshika out from under the table. Walking to the door, Sayaka opened it to reveal an officer in a Fuso uniform.

"Is this the Miyafuji residence?" the officer asked.

"Yes, it is." Sayaka replied.

"I have a delivery for you." The officer said, handing over a letter and an envelope.

Sayaka took them. "Thank you."

The officer nodded, and then left.

Sayaka walked back into the kitchen, to see that Akimoto was successful in coaxing the scared Yoshika out from under the table. "Who was it?" Akimoto asked.

"I'm not sure," Sayaka replied, before looking at the letter. Surprisingly, it was from Ichiro Miyafuji, who was Sayaka's husband and Yoshika's father. "But it seems we've got a letter from Ichiro."

Yoshika perked up at the sound of her father's name. "A letter from dad!"

"Hold on, there. Let me read it first." Sayaka said as she opened the letter and unfolded the paper that was inside. Reading it, she gasped. "It's…it's a death notice!"

Yoshika and Akimoto paled. "No…Daddy can't be dead!" Yoshika wailed.

Akimoto had tears in her eyes. "How…how did this happen…?" she asked.

Yoshika was sobbing helplessly into Akimoto's chest as Sayaka opened the envelope, hoping that the document inside would explain. Looking at the document, Sayaka frowned as nearly all of it was blacked out; the only words that weren't blacked out were "Dr. Ichiro Miyafuji was killed in a laboratory explosion…"

* * *

Two hours later, Sayaka and Akimoto put the now sleeping Yoshika on her bad and tucked her in. "She must have fallen asleep due to the stress." Sayaka mused.

"It's not surprising." Akimoto agreed as the two of them walked out the door.

Several minutes later, Yoshika slowly woke up. Deciding to take a look at the document for herself, she sneaked into the kitchen where the document laid on the counter. Grabbing it, she then sneaked out of the house into the backyard garden, where there was a large fountain. Walking towards it, Yoshika felt around on the fountain until she felt a barely noticeable notch in it. Pushing on the notch, the entire fountain moved to the side, revealing a secret passage underneath.

This passage led to an underground shrine that only the Miyafuji family knew about, and inside this shrine were the forbidden twin swords, "Empty Skies", which were currently folded and were on a display rack. **(A/N: These are the exact same swords that Azure Flame Kite from .hack/G.U. Vol. 3: Redemption. [I don't own that either.] Take a look at those swords if you don't know what they look like.)** Walking to a table, Yoshika lit a candle and looked at the document, frowning at how much was blacked out.

'_I can easily fix that.'_ Yoshika thought as her hazel eyes glowed with magical power and her pupils changed shape from a normal round into that of a targeting reticule, indicating that she was using her unique magical ability, "Ultimate Decryption."

This magical ability allows the user to solve any puzzle in a matter of minutes, and can decode and decrypt any message instantly. This also works on blacked-out documents, like the one Yoshika is using her ability on right now.

Pleased to see that her ability is allowing her to read the whole document, Yoshika began reading it, but quickly felt rage after discovering that someone had purposely set up the lab with a disguised bomb to go off at a certain point in one of Ichiro's experiments. Reading on, she learned that it was Trevor Maloney that staged the "accident."

"**What are you doing?"** a strange voice asked.

Yoshika, not expecting for anybody to be here, immediately hid under the table in pure fright, shivering like a leaf.

The ominous voice chuckled. **"Calm yourself, young one. I mean you no harm."**

Yoshika slowly crawled out from under the table. "Where are you?" she asked, looking around the entrance.

"**Turn around."** The voice said.

Yoshika turned, but only saw the folded "Empty Skies." "But the only things I see are the forbidden swords…" Yoshika said, trailing off, before her eyes widened in shock. "You mean that you're…?"

"**It seems you figured it out. Yes, I am the forbidden twin swords, Empty Skies."** The now revealed Empty Skies introduced itself.

Yoshika was shaking like a leaf. "A-A-Are you going to…steal my soul…?" she asked hesitantly.

Empty Skies snorted. **"The only souls I steal are those that are not of the Miyafuji family, because only the Miyafuji's are allowed to wield me. Now, what are you doing down here?"** the twin swords asked.

Yoshika sighed. "Can you look into my mind like the legends say?" she asked.

"**I can, but only with your consent."** Empty Skies answered.

"Then please do so. It would be faster than explaining it to you." Yoshika said, allowing the twin swords to look into her mind.

After a few minutes, Empty Skies receded from her mind. **"That BASTARD!"** the twin swords shouted, taking Yoshika by surprise. **"Nobody kills a Miyafuji and gets away with it! Not if I have anything to say about it!"** The swords then calmed down somewhat. **"So, what are you going to do, Yoshika Miyafuji?"** Empty Skies asked.

Yoshika thought for a minute. "I want revenge." She answered.

Empty Skies mentally grinned. **"Then take me with you. I want to make that bastard suffer for what he did. But first, you need to get stronger. And to do that, we need to leave."**

Yoshika agreed, and grabbed the two custom sheathes for the twin swords and strapped them to her back in an X-shape. She then removed Empty Skies and placed the blades into their sheathes. "So, what now?" Yoshika asked.

"**Leave a letter for your family explaining what you did, but make it short. We then need to get a ship out of Fuso."** The swords said.

Grabbing a piece of paper and a pencil, Yoshika wrote a simple letter to her family. After she was finished, she extinguished the candle by blowing it out and walked out of the shrine, making sure to cover the entrance back up with the fountain. Placing the letter on her bed, she then walked out of the house towards the harbor, where she then sneaked onto a ship destined for Imperial Karlsland, which left shortly after.

* * *

The next morning at the Miyafuji residence, Sayaka and Akimoto both went to Yoshika's room to wake her up. Opening the door, the two were shocked to see that nobody was in the room, and the two noticed a letter on the bed. Akimoto took the letter and read it, her eyes widening as she did.

"Take a look at this!" Akimoto said to Sayaka, giving her the note.

Looking at it, Sayaka read it aloud. "'My magical ability is 'Ultimate Decryption.' I'm going after the bastard who killed daddy. I am not alone, for I have Empty Skies with me.'"

"Empty Skies…" Akimoto mused, before her eyes widened in shock. "To the shrine, quickly!"

Sayaka nodded, and the two of them rushed to the backyard fountain, which showed signs of being opened recently if the marks in the surrounding dirt were of any indication. Opening the entrance to the shrine, the two quickly entered, only to see that the forbidden swords were gone.

* * *

Two months later, the ship that Yoshika was on arrived at Imperial Karlsland, right next to a research lab where Ursula Hartmann was developing a new prototype Striker Unit. Yoshika sneaked off the ship and into the lab once night had fallen, using the cover of darkness to her advantage. Over the two month voyage, Yoshika became a master of stealth and was able to steal food from the ship's mess hall without anyone noticing the missing food. She also learned how to talk with Empty Skies on a mental level, allowing her to have conversations with the twin swords in complete silence. Her personality also changed into that of a war veteran, thanks to Empty Skies giving her mental training.

'_**So, where to now?'**_ the twin swords asked its' wielder.

'_We are going to steal the prototype Striker Unit.'_ Yoshika responded. _'I overheard the one known as Ursula say that it can fly far higher and far faster than any other Striker Unit, but the drawback is that it uses up magical power far too quickly for any of the other Witches to use effectively. The test Witches were only able to use it for 8 minutes at the most. I recall Ursula calling it the Me 163 Komet, a Striker Unit that's powered by a magical rocket engine. I believe that it was this engine that gobbled up the test Witches' magical power too quickly.'_

'_**Magical power that you have in spades.'**_ Empty Skies realized.

Yoshika grinned. _'Exactly.'_

After making sure that the coast was clear, Yoshika sneaked into the hangar that housed the prototype Komet Striker Unit, opening the hangar doors just enough to allow her to make an emergency take-off that she _knew_ she would have to do. Silently running up to the Komet, Yoshika hopped into the Striker Unit and powered it up, releasing it from its' docking clamps.

This triggered the base alarms, causing the Witches that were on standby to rush to the hangar.

Yoshika quickly took off, shocking Ursula who came to check on the Komet. "The Komet has been stolen!" Ursula called in shock, surprising the other Witches. Who would want to steal that magic guzzler? Shaking off that thought, the Witches hopped into their Striker Units and took off in pursuit, hoping that the thief would run out of magical power quickly.

This would not be the case, because Yoshika had enough magical power to use the Komet for fifteen hours nonstop.

After 12 minutes, and with the thief still in the air flying far faster than them, the Witches gave up the chase.

* * *

Two hundred miles away from the base, Yoshika found a cave in a mountain range that would be perfect for a makeshift home. Landing in the cave and powering down the Komet, she hopped out of her stolen Striker Unit and lay down on the moist floor, shivering from the cold. She suddenly felt warm.

'_**You are cold. I will give you warmth until you are able to make your own bed.'**_ Empty Skies said.

'_Thank you…my friend.'_ Yoshika replied.

This caught Empty Skies off-guard, _nobody_ has ever thanked him before, let alone call him a friend. The twin swords, for the first time since it could remember, felt good on the inside. _**'What should your new name be? Because I think if the world knew your real name, they would send you back to your family as soon as they can.'**_ The swords asked.

Yoshika thought for a minute. "I think…since I am wielding two triple-bladed swords…how about…'Tri-Edge'?"

"**I like it." **Empty Skies said. **"I have an idea of a symbol for you."**

"What is it?" Yoshika asked. The twin swords sent her the image, and she liked it. "Simple, yet terrifying. I like it." She got up and went to her newly acquired Striker Unit and used her second magical ability, "Color Alteration."

"Color Alteration" is often an underappreciated ability, because not many can see the benefit of permanently changing the colors of an object. By using this ability, one can permanently change the colors of an object. This is useful if you want to change the colors of an object without using any paint that would eventually flake off. This ability also allows the user to add, change, or remove logos, emblems, and details, and is perfect for pranks.

Using her "Color Alteration" magical ability, Yoshika changed the color scheme to a dark green and black camouflage scheme, and removed the Karlsland emblem while replacing it with a red stylized-"A" like emblem. **(A/N#2: Look up "Tri-Edge Symbol" on Google Images. It's the first result.)**

"I am now…Tri-Edge." Yoshika, or now Tri-Edge, said.

"**We will begin training tomorrow."** Empty Skies informed. **"So get some sleep."**

"Good night." Tri-Edge said, before she fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N: This story idea just popped into my head, and I liked it so much that I decided to write a fanfic on it. A dark Yoshika looking for revenge, I don't think anyone has ever written a fanfic like this one before.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Driven by Revenge, Tri-Edge**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 2: The First Encounter, and the Ultimatum**

* * *

_Five Years Later…_

In the night, Sanya was humming a song to keep herself occupied. Noticing a flash of light to her left, she looked to see a transport plane that belonged to the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, aka the Strike Witches, which Sanya is also a part of.

* * *

On the mentioned transport plane sat three Witches.

"Grumpiness is written all over your face, Major Sakamoto." said Minna.

"They called us all the way out here to tell us they're cutting our budgets. Of course I look grumpy." retorted Mio.

"They're feeling frustrated too, given that we're the only ones producing results in the war." Minna replied.

"The only thing they see is their own position." Mio countered.

"That's just how the warmongers are. Had the Neuroi never appeared they might be warring with each other right now." said Minna.

"It'd be like a world war, I bet" said Mio, who then turned to the younger blonde Witch to her right. "Sorry Hartmann. I was hoping to show you around a town in Britannia since we're here, but…"

"It's okay," Ursula Hartmann, a Witch/researcher who transferred over to the Strike Witches recently, replied "You can always show me around another time." At this point, the three Witches could hear singing. "Umm, do you hear something?" Ursula asked.

"Oh, that's Sanya singing." answered Minna, looking out the window "We must be near the base."

The singing suddenly stopped, puzzling Ursula, and putting Mio and Minna on edge. "What's wrong, Sanya?" Minna asked.

"Someone is watching us…" Sanya said in a soft voice.

"You need to report clearly and loudly." Mio said.

"I'm sorry," Sanya apologized, and then continued "An unknown aircraft is approaching from the direction of Sirius."

"Is it a Neuroi?" Minna asked.

"Yes, I'm almost certain of it." Sanya answered "It's not moving at a normal aircraft's speed."

Mio lifted her eye patch, exposing her purple Magic Eye. "I don't see it, though…" Mio said.

"It's in the clouds." Sanya stated "It can't be detected with the naked eye."

"What are we supposed to do in this situation?" Ursula asked.

"I know it's vexing," Minna said "But there's nothing we can do without our Strikers." Minna then realized something. "You don't think they planned on that?" Minna asked.

"The Neuroi aren't capable of such complicated strategies." Mio replied.

"Target continues to approach at high speed." Sanya said, reminding them of the current situation. "Three minutes to contact."

"Sanya," Minna said "You'll need to buy us time until backup can arrive. Avoid engaging it to the best of your ability."

"Yes, ma'am." Sanya said, turning off the safety of the rocket launcher she was carrying. "Breaking away from target."

"Watch closely, Hartmann." Mio said.

"Sanya knows where the Neuroi is?" Ursula asked.

"Yes." Mio confirmed "She can even see things that are beyond the horizon."

Ursula whistled, finding a new respect for Sanya.

"That's why we always leave her in charge of night patrol duty." Minna said

Sanya then flipped over, aiming her rocket launcher through the clouds and firing two rockets, both of them striking the Neuroi. "It's not attacking back?" Sanya asked in confusion, firing more rockets.

"Just as I thought." Minna said. "She's doing well against an enemy we can't see…"

"But I don't see a Neuroi at all…" Ursula said.

"What Sanya says is definitely correct." Mio said.

* * *

Back at the base, all the Witches were gathered in the living room, Mio explaining what had happened.

"Then, does that mean no one saw the Neuroi but Sanya this time?" Trude asked.

"That's because it was hidden in the clouds and wouldn't come out." Mio explained.

"But she said it didn't fight back." Erica said "Does that ever happen? Are we sure it was really a Neuroi?" Erica asked.

"A shy Neuroi, perhaps?" Lynne asked.

"Maybe so." Ursula replied.

"Sanya, Ursula, Eila, you three are assigned to the full-time nighttime team." Mio ordered.

"Yes, ma'am!" the three Witches replied.

* * *

The next morning, all the Witches were in the dining room.

"Oh, blueberries! But why so many?" Perrine asked.

"My family sent them. Blueberries are good for your eyes, you know!" Lynne said, carrying a basket of blueberries.

"Down the hatch!" Erica said, digging into her bowl of blueberries.

"I have heard that nighttime pilots in Britannia eat them often." Trude said.

Ursula had finished off her bowl of blueberries when Lucchini walked up to her. "Ursula! Shirley! Stick out your tongues!" Lucchini said, sticking out her tongue, which was purple from eating blueberries. Ursula and Shirley also stuck out their tongues, which were also purple. The three blinked, and then started laughing up a storm.

"Honestly! How trite can one get?!" Perrine asked.

"What about _you_?!" Eila asked, pulling back Perrine's lips to reveal her purple teeth.

Mio looked at Perrine, and walked off saying, "All things in moderation."

Perrine was tearing up in pure embarrassment. "H-H-How could you do that, Eila?!" Perrine yelled.

"Hmmm?" Eila said, walking away grinning. "I didn't do anything."

'_Delicious.'_ Sanya thought, eating another spoonful of blueberries.

* * *

"All right," Mio said "Now that breakfast is over, go to sleep to prepare for night duty!"

"Huh?" Ursula asked. "But what about my research?"

"That can wait until after we deal with this Neuroi." Mio said with finality.

"Fine…" Ursula relented.

* * *

The three Witches were in Sanya's room, which was completely dark, save for the tiny amount of light that seeped in through the bottom of the door.

"I just woke up, too…" Ursula complained "Why did they have to make the room pitch black?"

"They want us to get used to the dark." Eila answered.

"Sorry they did this to your room, Sanya." Ursula apologized.

Sanya shook her head. "This is how I like my room." Sanya said.

"If you're bored, let's do tarot cards." Eila offered.

"Tarot cards?" Ursula asked.

"Fortunetelling," Eila explained "I can predict the future using magic. I can't see very far, though…" Eila said, laying her tarot cards face-down on the bed. Ursula picked one up. "Let me see…" Eila said, looking at the card before getting a grin on her face at which card it was; the Justice card. "Well! It seems you'll learn the truth about the reasons of a past event that you really want answered soon." Eila said.

Ursula's eyes widened considerably. _'Does she mean that I will learn the reason on why that Witch stole the Komet prototype?'_ Ursula thought to herself.

Eila plopped down on the bed, fast asleep. Before falling asleep herself, Ursula noticed a date circled on Sanya's calendar. The date was August 18, which Ursula assumed was Sanya's birthday. Her eyes widened. _'Sanya's birthday is the same day as mine is…and the same day that the Komet was stolen, too.'_ Ursula thought to herself.

* * *

_That evening…_

"It's sundown! Up and at 'em!" Lucchini called into the room.

"It seems kind of dark." Ursula said, sitting down next to Lynne.

Lynne nodded. "They said it's training to get our eyes used to dark environments." Lynne said.

"What's this?" Ursula asked, looking at the liquid in the teacup in front of her.

"It's marigold herbal tea!" Perrine exclaimed "It's said that this can improve your eyesight, too!"

"Oh," Lynne said "But isn't that an old folk myth?"

"How rude! I'll have you know this was passed down from my grandmother's grandmother's grandmother!" Perrine yelled, growling.

"S-Sorry…" Lynne apologized.

"Ursula! Lynne! Stick out your tongues!" Lucchini said, sticking her tongue out, which was normally colored. Lynne and Ursula did the same, revealing that their tongues were also normally colored. Lucchini's left eye was twitching in annoyance at not finding anything funny. "That's no fun!" Lucchini yelled.

"That joke bombed." Eila said, grinning to herself. Perrine scowled at Eila, but didn't say anything.

Sanya took a sip of the marigold herbal tea. _'Yuck…'_ Sanya thought to herself.

* * *

Eila, Sanya and Ursula were out flying conducting nighttime flight training.

"So this is what it's like to fly at night…" Ursula trailed off, flying in formation with Sanya and Eila.

"This is our mission." Sanya said.

Ursula stared at Sanya, puzzled by what she meant.

* * *

The next morning, all the Witches were in the dining room.

"What's this?" Perrine asked, looking into a teacup.

"Lamprey liver oil!" Ursula said "It's full of vitamins and good for your eyes!"

Erica sniffed it. "It smells kinda fishy." Erica said.

"Well, it _is_ fish oil." Trude said "Flavor doesn't matter as long as it's nutritious." Trude then took a sip, before recoiling in disgust. "…I take back what I just said." Trude admitted.

Perrine was laughing up a storm. "That's Hartmann for you!" Perrine taunted "What a truly rustic choice!" Perrine continued laughing, unaware that she also taunted Erica, whose left eye was twitching in annoyance.

"Actually, I'm the one who brought it." Mio said.

Perrine quickly shut up, hearing what Mio said. Turning around quickly, Perrine grabbed the cup of fish oil while saying, "I-I love fish oil!" Grabbing the cup, Perrine quickly gulped down its contents, only for her eyes to widen at the horrible taste.

Ursula took a sip from her cup. "I don't see what the problem is. This is just as good as tea." She said.

"What is this?!" Lucchini asked in disgust.

"There's engine oil that tastes like this…" Shirley trailed off in thought.

Eila was spitting it out of her mouth, while Sanya just put her cup down.

"They used to force me to drink this when I first joined." Mio admitted, scratching the back of her head sheepishly "I was at a real loss."

"I can completely sympathize…" Perrine grumbled, trying to get the taste out of her mouth.

"Refill, please!" Minna requested with a smile. Erica was slowly backing away from Minna in disgust, but froze at what her sister did next.

Ursula snatched the carton of fish oil from Mio's hands, and proceeded to chug down the entire carton. All the Witches looked at her in disgust, except Minna, who pouted at the loss of such a good tasting beverage.

"Do you have any more?" Ursula asked in a sweet tone, giving back Mio the now empty carton.

* * *

"Ugh…" Ursula groaned in pure boredom. "Where are you two from?" Ursula asked.

"I'm from Suomus." Eila answered.

"Orussia." Sanya answered.

"Oh, I know where those are." Ursula said, but then had a thought. "Hey, Sanya…" Ursula said.

"What is it?" Sanya asked.

"What happened to your family?" Ursula asked.

"They fled east when the Neuroi attacked my hometown." Sanya answered "They fled over the Ural Mountains and far past."

"That's a relief." Ursula said.

"How is that a relief?" Eila asked "Weren't you just listening?"

"But that means they can see each other again someday, because not every Witches' parents are still alive, you know." Ursula pointed out.

Eila winced at that thought. "…Yeah, I guess you're right."

* * *

That night, Sanya, Eila, and Ursula were out flying again.

"Say, listen." Ursula said.

"Huh?" Eila and Sanya asked.

"Today is my birthday!" Ursula exclaimed.

"Why didn't you tell us this before?!" Eila asked.

"Today is also the day that some Witch stole the rocket-powered Striker Unit prototype. I _really_ want to learn the truth about why that Witch stole the Komet." Ursula trailed off in thought. "Things have been so hectic that I forgot to mention it." She admitted.

Sanya looked down.

"What's wrong, Sanya?" Ursula asked.

"Well, you see," Eila replied "Today is also Sanya's…"

At that moment, Sanya's Magic Antenna started to rapidly change color, causing her to gasp.

"What is it?" Eila asked.

The three Witches then heard something akin to the song Sanya usually sings.

"What is that?" Ursula asked.

"It's a song!" Eila answered worriedly.

"How…?" Sanya asked to herself.

* * *

At the base, the same song could also be heard. "Is this a Neuroi's voice?" Minna asked.

"Is it trying to mimic Sanya? Where is she?" Mio asked with concern in her voice.

"She should be conducting nighttime flight training with Yamakawa's group." Minna answered.

"Call them back at once!" Mio ordered.

"We can't! There's no telling where they are in these conditions!" Minna said, worried.

"I see," said Mio "So the enemy's after Sanya!"

* * *

Back with the three Witches, the three were getting worried.

"Is it the enemy, Sanya?" Eila asked.

"Is it a Neuroi? Where is it?" Ursula asked, getting her gun ready.

"Escape, you two!" Sanya suddenly ordered, who then flew straight up.

Suddenly, a red beam pierced through the clouds grazing Sanya's left Striker Unit, forcing her to eject it before it exploded seconds later.

"Sanya!" Eila shouted, flying after Sanya with Ursula following her.

Eila caught Sanya, and then yelled, "You idiot! What are you trying to do all by yourself?"

"I'm the enemy's target!" Sanya replied "There's no question about it. Get away from me... If you stay with me, you'll..."

"Don't be stupid! What are you saying?" Eila stated.

"We can't do that!" Ursula yelled.

"But..." Sanya started, but was surprised when Eila grabbed her rocket launcher.

"What are you going to do?!" Ursula asked while carrying Sanya.

"Give me the enemy's location, Sanya." Eila said "It's all right. I can read the enemy's actions ahead of time, so they won't get me. That thing isn't you. _It_ may be alone, but _you've_ got us!"

Ursula gave Sanya a reassuring grin. Sanya nodded.

"The Neuroi is heading straight this way, on the line connecting Vega and Altair. Approximate distance of 3,200." Sanya said, giving the location of the inbound Neuroi.

"Like this?" Eila asked, positioning the rocket launcher.

"It's speeding up. Aim closer." Sanya corrected "There. Three more seconds."

"Now hit it!" Eila yelled, firing several rockets.

Another red beam was fired at the trio, who dodged it. The rockets all hit their mark as the Neuroi flew beneath them, retaining its cloud cover.

"I missed it?!" Eila asked.

"No, it's slowed down." Sanya said "It's sustained heavy damage. It's coming back!"

"Don't come back!" Eila yelled, firing more rockets at the Neuroi. To the trio's shock, the Neuroi dodged the rockets.

"It dodged!" Ursula warned.

"Damnnit, show yourself!" Eila cursed, firing the last rocket in the launcher. This time, it was a direct hit, and the Neuroi revealed itself, although it was going too fast for the Witches to get a good look at it.

"There it is!" Eila and Ursula said at the same time. The Neuroi was fast approaching. Thinking quickly, Eila discarded the now empty rocket launcher in favor of her machine gun, firing away at the Neuroi.

"Eila, no! Run!" Sanya pleaded.

"There's no time for that now!" Eila replied.

Ursula threw up her shield, still carrying Sanya on her back.

"Good thinking!" Eila complimented.

"It's okay! I know we can win!" Ursula encouraged.

"This is what a team is all about!" Eila finished.

Sanya then grabbed Ursula's machine gun, firing at the Neuroi. The Neuroi swerved left and right, avoiding most of the shots as it continued to charge.

* * *

Thirty-thousand feet up above the fight, a certain avenger was watching the battle.

'_**Are you going to help them?'**_ Empty Skies asked.

'_They may be my next target, but I want them at their prime. I have no choice but to help them.'_ Tri-Edge replied, before diving down on the Neuroi. _'Just this once, I will help out my prey.'_

* * *

Eila and Sanya were still shooting at the swerving Neuroi, while Ursula kept up her shield, but only a few of their rounds hit.

Sanya then stopped firing as she ran out of ammo, and looked up. "Someone is coming from above at a very high speed!" Sanya warned.

Eila's eyes widened, both at the news and the fact that her gun just ran out of ammo as well. "Another Neuroi?! Why now?!" Eila yelled.

Sanya shook her head. "It's too small to be a Neuroi, and I'm feeling magical power from it, so it's a Witch." Sanya said. "But she's diving too fast for her to be wearing a normal Striker Unit."

Ursula's eyes widened at that revelation. _'Too fast for a normal Striker Unit? Is it…the stolen Komet?!'_

The mystery Witch suddenly dived in front of them, drawing two swords from her back and charging at the Neuroi, too fast for any of the three Witches to track. The Witch (who is Tri-Edge, in case you didn't know that already) slashed with her swords so fast that the swing was completely invisible. The slash of the first sword exposed the Core, while the second slash destroyed it, making the Neuroi shatter. The Witch then dived into the clouds.

* * *

After diving into the clouds after dealing with the Neuroi, Tri-Edge sheathed Empty Skies and took out a blank sheet of paper. Using her "Color Alteration" magical ability on the piece of paper to quickly form a message, making sure to leave her signature symbol at the bottom of the message. She folded it and used her ability to write "To the Commander of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing" on the front, and then applied tape to the backside of the note. Tri-Edge then flew straight up at the three Witches that were above her.

* * *

The mystery Witch suddenly flew out of the clouds right at the three Witches. Sanya, Eila, and Ursula were caught off-guard at the sudden move, and could do nothing as the mystery Witch slapped a piece of paper onto Eila's back and boosted straight up, away from the three Witches as she turned towards Gallia and flew off.

Ursula's eyes were wide in pure shock. When the mystery Witch flew in front of her to slap the piece of paper onto Eila's back, she was only able to see the ends of the Striker Unit. It was only for an instant, but there was no mistaking it.

At the ends of each leg mount, was a rocket nozzle spewing out magic, instead of the normal magical engines that are found on most Striker Units.

"The Komet…" Ursula trailed off in shock.

"What?! You mean _that's_ the Komet Striker that was stolen?!" Eila asked in pure shock as Sanya took off the note that was on Eila's back.

"Let's head back." Sanya said. "Our work here is done."

Ursula and Eila nodded, and the three flew back to base while Sanya held onto the note.

* * *

The next morning, all the Witches were in the living room, wondering why they were called.

Minna held out the letter that the mystery Witch had slapped onto Eila's back the previous night. "I have a feeling that this is something we all need to know, so I'll be reading it out loud." Opening the letter, Minna began reading it aloud. "'I want all of your Witches to be at their prime in three days. The time will be 1930 hours (that's 7:30 p.m. if you don't know military time) and the place will be the airspace above your base. Feel free to call back-up from the 31st Joint Fighter Squadron, who I know are all on a short leave in a nearby town. Trust me; you'll need it against me. Signed…'" Minna took one look at the symbol that was where the signature usually was, and started shaking like a leaf, her eyes showing an emotion that none of them have ever expected from her.

Fear. Pure _fear._

"M-Mio," Minna stuttered, shocking all that were present. Minna _never_ stuttered. "L-Look…" she said, pointing at the symbol.

Mio took one look at the symbol, before she too started shaking in fear.

Now all that were present were scared; to have both Minna _and_ Mio shaking in fear must mean that something very dangerous was coming.

They had no idea how right they were.


	3. Chapter 3

**Driven by Revenge, Tri-Edge**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 3: The Time Draws Near, and a Shocking Revelation**

* * *

"Shirley, take the truck to the nearby town and gather the Storm Witches." Mio ordered, her voice full of fear as she continued to look at the note. "I won't explain until they are here. Just tell them that a major threat is coming, and if that doesn't work, tell them that they have a chance to make history. Tell them to bring all their equipment as well."

"Y-Yes, ma'am." Shirley said, leaving the room to do as she was told.

After Shirley left, Mio took out a photo that had the Miyafuji family on it, and the letter that Yoshika left with her family. "Sayaka Miyafuji, Akimoto Yoshiko, with this turn of events, I may not live to see through with the promise I gave you." Mio said.

* * *

In a nearby town, the 31st Joint Fighter Squadron, also known as the "Storm Witches," were all at a café relaxing.

"Ah, that hit the spot." Said the voice of Katou Keiko, the Storm Witches' aerial command and photo reconnaissance Witch, rubbing her full stomach.

Raisa Pöttgen, who is Marseille's partner and has an artistic talent, agreed while sipping down some soda.

Inagaki Mami, another Witch of the 31st JFS, agreed as well.

Kitano Furuko, the only Witch in the 31st JFS to use a tank-type land-based Striker Unit, agreed as well after finishing off her fries.

"Remember, we will be here for five more days until we need to head back to Africa." Hanna-Justina Wallia Rosalind Sieglinde Marseille **(A/N: I kid you not. That's her full name.)**, the ultra-ace of the Storm Witches and also known as the "Star of Africa", reminded them. That was when she saw a speeding truck roar down the street and screech to a halt next to them. The driver got out, revealing it to be Shirley. "I should've known that it was you who was driving that truck, you speed demon." Marseille said.

"Nice to see you, too." Shirley said. "What are you doing here?"

"We're on a short leave because the higher up's believe we've all went insane when we told them that the Witch known as Tri-Edge defeated us." Kitano replied.

"You mean the rumored Witch that is going after other Witches?" Shirley asked.

"She is NOT a rumor!" Raisa yelled. "We saw her with our own eyes!"

Shirley raised her hands in surrender. "Hey, I never said I didn't believe you. To be honest, even though I've never seen Tri-Edge, I believe the rumors to be true. Anyways, Mio told me to bring you back to our base. She didn't explain why, though."

Marseille raised an eyebrow. "And _why_ should we listen to her?" she asked.

Shirley shrugged. "Not sure, but she did say something about making history. If you're not interested, I'll go back and tell her." Shirley said, and was about to get back into her truck when Marseille grabbed her shoulder.

"Make history, you say?" Marseille asked, grinning. "You've got my attention."

Shirley grinned. "Great! She also told me to tell you to bring all of your equipment as well, which includes your Striker Units and all your guns and ammo as well, which is what the truck is for, I believe."

Marseille turned to the rest of the 31st JFS. "Girls, we have an attempt to make history. You up for it?" she asked them.

They nodded. "I've recently upgraded my firepower into that of a true Tank Witch." Kitano said.

"So we are in agreement." Marseille said. "All right, everyone. Grab your gear and load it onto the truck. We're going to visit the Strike Witches."

* * *

One hour later, Shirley returned with the Storm witches in tow. She then brought them to the briefing room where the rest of the 501st were waiting for them. "Glad you could make it." Mio said, having gotten somewhat calmer of knowing about their next enemy. Now she was anticipating the challenge, although Minna was still somewhat scared.

"So what's this I hear about making history?" Marseille asked.

"Take a look at this letter that our opponent gave to us." Mio said, giving Marseille the letter.

Reading the letter, Marseille paled, and started shaking in fear.

"Marseille, what's wrong?" Katou asked.

"I-I-It's…_'Her.'_" Marseille stuttered.

Raisa paled; she knew what, or rather who, Marseille was talking about. "N-No…not again…not again!" She yelled. "She nearly killed us last time!"

By this time, all the Storm Witches were aware of whom the new threat was and the rest of them paled.

"Hey, you never did tell us who were up against." Lucchini complained to Mio.

"One word, biggest threat to the Witches in history. Her name…is Tri-Edge." Mio said.

This time, all the Strike Witches paled; they all knew who Tri-Edge was.

Tri-Edge was the infamous Witch that was reported to be seen all over the European front against the Neuroi. She has taken down an armada consisting of around 300 Neuroi by herself and emerged victorious two hours later (this means that Tri-Edge destroyed one Neuroi every 24 seconds). But what really put the spark of fear into Tri-Edge's name is that she _also_ goes after every Joint Fighter Wing that she comes across, putting several Witches from each JFW into a coma that none of them have ever woken up from (Tri-Edge has stolen the souls of those that were put into a coma. The extraction of the soul only puts the body into a coma, it doesn't kill them. The only ones who know this are Tri-Edge herself and her twin swords, Empty Skies).

"Y-Y-Y-Y-You mean to tell me…that the one who stole the Komet…was Tri-Edge?!" Ursula asked, shocking all those that were present.

"WHAT?!" Trude yelled. "You mean Tri-Edge is in possession of the stolen prototype rocket Striker?!"

Marseille gasped. "_That_ explains how she was able to fly so fast and take down all the other Joint Fighter Wings so quickly!" she exclaimed.

* * *

Three days later, all the Witches at the base were anxiously waiting the appointed time for the battle to begin.

"I can't believe that in a few short hours we'll be facing Tri-Edge herself." Shirley said. "In fact, I'm looking forward to it."

"How can you be looking forward to it?!" Ursula asked.

Shirley grinned. "I always wanted to have an actual high-speed battle, and now's the perfect opportunity!"

Ursula face-faulted at the answer she was given. _'I should've known. She's a speed demon to the end.'_

* * *

Mio looked at the clock. "Activate the emergency alarm. It's nearly time."

Marseille nodded, and pulled the lever that activated the emergency alarm, the signal that all the Witches were waiting for.

* * *

All the Witches gathered in the briefing room. "All right. Listen up!" Marseille called. "The strategy of this battle will be that only a few Witches will battle at a time, while the rest of the Witches will wait on the ground. We will tag out between different Witches at ten minute intervals, because Tri-Edge has enough magical power to use a magic guzzling Striker Unit like the Komet for hours at a time, while the test Witches, according to Ursula, were only able to use it for eight minutes tops before running out of magic." This surprised a few of the Witches. "While you're in the air, stay close to your right-hand Witch, because Tri-Edge will easily pick you off if you get separated. Also, try to keep the fight at low altitude, because Tri-Edge has a tendency to fly fast and stay fast, but as a drawback, she can't turn as well as us, so we'll use that to our advantage. While you're on the ground, make sure to get as much rest as possible, and all of you stay together. This way, if Tri-Edge comes after any one of you, you can all fill the sky with bullets to drive her off. Just make sure that you don't fire at us by mistake. Also, by keeping the fight at low altitude, we will be able to slowly chip away at her defenses with support fire from the Witches on the ground. Remember, this is an endurance battle, something that Tri-Edge excels at, and can counter anything else we throw at her, so we have no choice but to play her game, and beat her at it. So refrain from using any offensive skills unless you truly have no other option; you need to conserve as much magic as possible. Understood?" Marseille asked.

All the other Witches nodded.

Minna looked at the clock. The time was 1920 hours. "It's time. All Witches, to your Striker Units at once!" Minna ordered.

* * *

80 miles away, in a cave in a mountain range, Tri-Edge awaited the time for her battle with her newest opponents.

"The time draws near…" Tri-Edge mumbled to herself.

"**It does…are you ready?"** Empty Skies asked.

"Yes, I am ready. If I can defeat the two best Witch squadrons in the world combined, then I will have proven that I am the strongest, and will finally be ready to hunt down Trevor Maloney." Tri-Edge replied. "But if they defeat me, then that will prove that I'm still too weak to take down that bastard. And if they capture me, then I will have a lot of explaining to do."

"**If we win, then it will have been our final battle against the Witches to prove who is the strongest."** Empty Skies said. **"Tri-Edge…to tell the truth, you have been like a little sister to me over the last five years, and I am honored to have been wielded by you."**

Tri-Edge felt tears well up in her eyes at Empty Skies' confession. "Over the years, you were always looking out for me, and you became something like a big brother to me. So…thank you." Tri-Edge said. She then looked at a clock that she stole from Britannia. The time was 1920 hours. "It's time." She said, placing Empty Skies in their sheathes on her back and hopped into her Komet Striker Unit, powering it up. For the last time, the sounds of magical rocket engines echoed throughout the cave as Tri-Edge flew out of the cave and towards the Strike Witches base, on a rendezvous with destiny.

Eight minutes later, Tri-Edge spotted the Strike Witches base, and dived in.

* * *

All the Witches at the base were on combat alert when Sanya detected someone diving in on the base.

"Incoming from above!" Sanya warned as her Magic Antenna started changing color rapidly.

All the Witches looked up to see Tri-Edge diving onto the base, pulling out of her dive and positioning herself fifty feet away from the rest of the Witches, her back turned to them.

Mio pulled out the photo one last time, getting Marseille's attention. "What is that?" Marseille asked.

"A photo of the Miyafuji family." Mio answered. "I promised them that I would find their missing daughter who disappeared five years ago." Mio showed the photo to Marseille, pointing to the image of Yoshika. "This is their missing daughter. Her name is Yoshika Miyafuji."

Marseille took one look at the image of Yoshika before her face became stark white. "I've seen that face before…"Marseille trailed off in shock.

This caught Mio off-guard. "What?! Where is she?!" Mio asked.

However, Marseille didn't hear her. "I now know Tri-Edge's true identity…" Marseille said.

Ursula perked up at that. "Who is it?" Ursula asked.

Tri-Edge mentally smirked. _'It's about time someone figures out my true identity.'_ Tri-Edge thought.

Marseille continued. "Tri-Edge's true identity…is Yoshika Miyafuji!"

Tri-Edge turned around, revealing the face of Yoshika Miyafuji to a shocked-to-silence group of Witches.


	4. Chapter 4

**Driven by Revenge, Tri-Edge**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 4: The Fated Battle**

* * *

_Last Time…_

_Marseille continued. "Tri-Edge's true identity…is Yoshika Miyafuji!"_

_Tri-Edge turned around, revealing the face of Yoshika Miyafuji to a shocked-to-silence group of Witches._

* * *

_Now…_

Mio stood there, shell-shocked. "You mean…all this time…their missing daughter was Tri-Edge?" Mio asked.

"I-It seems so…" Marseille trailed off.

"Tri-Edge…no, Yoshika…why…?" Mio asked.

Tri-Edge was silent, and drew her two folded swords and held them in front of her. "…To get stronger…" Tri-Edge finally responded as her two swords unfolded, revealing them to be two, triple-bladed swords.

"To get stronger?! How is this-" Mio started, but was cut-off by Sanya, who's Magic Antenna suddenly started glowing brighter.

"She's coming!" Sanya yelled, which was the only warning the group of Witches got before they had to dodge a lunge from Tri-Edge.

"Remember the strategy!" Marseille yelled as Eila, Sanya, Mio, and herself took to the air, while the rest of the Witches stayed on the ground.

Tri-Edge raised an eyebrow at the mention of a strategy, but shrugged it off as all the Witches on the ground started firing at her, forcing her into the air. Scanning the skies, she found four Witches in the air, one of which she had already defeated in the past. Thinking Marseille to be of no threat, Tri-Edge took off after Eila, but had to block a sword swipe from Mio with her right blade. "Yoshika, answer me!" Mio pleaded. "Why do you need to get stronger?!"

Tri-Edge was silent at first, but then responded. "…So I can avenge daddy…" Mio's eyes widened and she pulled out the note that Yoshika left for her family, earning a wince from Tri-Edge. "…Where did you get that?" Tri-Edge asked.

Mio took a breath. "I promised your family that I would find you, and return you to them. So, please…" Mio begged. She really didn't want to fight against the daughter of the man that saved her life.

But Tri-edge wouldn't give her that option. "I will return to them…as soon as I avenge daddy…" Tri-Edge said, and then lunged at Mio. Clashing swords with her, Tri-Edge spoke again. "If you want to earn my trust…and my loyalty…then defeat me in battle!" Tri-Edge yelled, swinging her other blade at Mio, who parried it by angling her sword slightly, using her other hand to stuff the note back into her pocket.

Marseille took the opportunity to fire a few shots at Tri-Edge, who broke-off her sword fight with Mio and gracefully dodged the shots. Tri-Edge was about to charge at her, but suddenly cut the power to her Komet Striker, making her drop 50 feet before she powered them back up, effectively dodging a rocket barrage from Sanya.

Seeing Tri-Edge dodge the rockets, and remembering her magical ability, "Ballistic Stabilization," Lynne got an idea. "Marseille! Switch out with me! I've got an idea!" Lynne called.

Marseille, curious about Lynne's idea, switched places with her, while Tri-Edge was distracted by Eila.

Lynne flew up to Sanya. "Sanya, I need you to trust me on this." Lynne said, grabbing onto the top of Sanya's rocket launcher. "Just aim in Tri-Edge's direction and I'll handle the rest."

Sanya, not sure what Lynne was going to attempt, decided to fire another rocket barrage anyway. What surprised her was that the rockets that she fired all had a magical glow around them. Tri-Edge saw the incoming rockets and dodged them. But what happened next, nobody expected.

Lynne, using her ability to control the rockets, steered them back towards Tri-Edge.

Tri-Edge's eyes widened in shock. _'What the hell?! Homing rockets?!'_ Tri-Edge thought, cursing as she had to keep dodging the rockets that were chasing after her.

All the other Witches looked on in shock. "Is Lynne doing that?!" Minna asked in shock.

"It seems so." Katou replied, also stunned that Lynne had that kind of power.

Tri-Edge was getting tired of repeatedly dodging the homing rockets that wouldn't give up chasing her. "ENOUGH!" Tri-Edge roared, boosting straight towards Sanya and Lynne, while the rockets continued to follow her.

Lynne's and Sanya's eyes widened at the sudden move. Lynne had to release her control of the rockets and separate from Sanya to dodge one of Tri-Edge's slashes, allowing the rockets to fly into the distance before running out of fuel and dropping into the sea.

Tri-Edge looked at the two Witches. _'Let's see…do I go after Radar Girl, who fires rockets? Or do I go after Sniper Girl, who can somewhat control her bullets mid-flight, but can control Radar Girl's rockets far better?'_ Tri-Edge then boosted after Lynne. _'I'm going after Sniper Girl first. Take care of her, and I won't have to worry about homing rockets anymore.'_ Tri-Edge thought.

Lynne's eyes widened. "I need help!" she called as she dodged a lunge from Tri-Edge.

Eila answered Lynne's call, firing a burst that would have hit Tri-Edge if she didn't barrel roll out of the way in time. Eila then decided that the four airborne Witches needed to switch out. "Lynne! Sanya! Mio! We're switching out!" Eila called, diving towards the Witches on the ground. "Katou! Raisa! Inagaki! Perrine! Take our places, it's your turn!"

The four mentioned Witches nodded, switching places with Eila, Sanya, Mio, and Lynne as they landed in the group of grounded Witches.

Tri-Edge's eyes widened in realization. _'So THAT'S their strategy! They're only sending up a few Witches at a time, while the ones on the ground rest up. After a set amount of time, the airborne Witches switch places with an equal amount of grounded Witches, allowing the previous four to get some rest while the next four engage me in combat. Meanwhile, the Witches on the ground will all shoot at me if I go after them, and they know I don't have any ranged attacks that I can use repeatedly, so they're keeping the fight at low altitude where the grounded Witches will shoot at me on occasion to catch me off-guard. The closest thing I have to a ranged attack that I can use repeatedly is using my magic to extend my blades by a length of five feet per blade. Did the one known as Marseille plan this? If she did, then I greatly underestimated them.'_

'_**It seems as though they learned far faster than we thought.'**_ Empty Skies mused through their mental link. _**'This should prove to be interesting.'**_

Tri-Edge grinned. _'But they DON'T know that I can use the famed 'Reppuzan,' even if using it tends to drain me of my magic pretty quickly. If things get desperate, I'll reveal the Reppuzan, but if I have no other choice, then I always have my ace-in-the-hole…the ultimate spell, 'Drain Heart'.'_

'_**But you haven't mastered Drain Heart yet!'**_ Empty Skies yelled, worried about his little sister-figure.

'_I know,'_ Tri-Edge replied _'but I will use it only as a last-ditch spell.'_

Inagaki suddenly opened fire with her 88mm Flak Cannon, catching Tri-Edge by surprise. _'An 88mm?! How the HELL does she carry that thing?!'_ Tri-Edge thought to herself in shock, before flying around wildly to avoid the Flak rounds exploding in her vicinity.

Tri-Edge then heard the now-familiar sound of rockets flying right at her. Looking down, she saw Sanya holding her rocket launcher, several of the barrels smoking indicating a recent launch of rockets. She also noticed that Lynne was holding onto the top of the rocket launcher while glowing slightly.

Tri-Edge looked up, seeing the rockets that were fired straight up curving towards her. _'Just GREAT. Not this again…'_ she thought, cursing to herself as she once again had to play an impromptu game of "Follow the Leader", only that she was leading and the ones that are following her are actually a swarm of homing rockets packed with explosives.

After repeatedly dodging the persistent rockets, something inside Tri-Edge snapped. _'All right, that's it!'_ she thought to herself. Pouring magic into her twin swords, Tri-Edge turned around to face the incoming rockets. "Enough fooling around! REPPUZAN!" Tri-Edge shouted, swinging Empty Skies and unleashing two energy waves in an X-formation, destroying all the rockets.

Mio was stunned. "How does she know the Reppuzan?!" Mio asked in shock.

Tri-Edge turned to the airborne Witches. "…The gloves are off now…" Tri-Edge simply said, and boosted towards them.

Perrine, after seeing Tri-Edge's fighting style, got an idea, and charged up her Tonnerre spell. But she didn't use it; instead, she kept charging it, and then compressed the magic for the spell into her right hand, and into her index finger. As this was happening, Katou, Raisa, and Inagaki kept Tri-Edge busy by firing at her, forcing her attention to the three attacking Witches as Perrine focused.

"Katou! Raisa! Inagaki! I need you three to hold Tri-Edge still for two seconds!" Perrine yelled.

The three Witches complied, each grabbing onto Tri-Edge, who was caught off-guard at the move.

Tri-Edge didn't know what to do; in her five years of hunting Witches, not _one_ of them tried to hold her in place. Hearing something, Tri-Edge turned her head to her left, only to see Perrine fire her super-charged Tonnerre spell.

The Tonnerre spell normally was an area-of-effect (AOE) lightning spell, but since Perrine super-charged it, along with focusing all that concentrated magic from her right index finger, the spell turned into something similar to a rail gun.

Katou, Raisa, and Inagaki waited until the last moment, and then let go of Tri-Edge, who had no time to react before she was struck with the super-charged lightning spell. Shirley, getting an idea, tagged out with Raisa.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Tri-Edge screamed in pain from being hit by the Tonnerre. Mio winced; she really didn't want any of the Witches to fight Tri-Edge, or rather Yoshika, but if it was the only way to keep her promise, then she had no other choice.

Perrine, after using the lightning spell for twenty seconds, ended her attack, and was panting in exhaustion from using almost all of her magic. It was a huge gamble on her part, because if she missed, she would have been easy pickings for Tri-Edge. Perrine flew down to the group of grounded Witches and switched out with Minna, using Tri-Edge's temporary paralysis to her advantage.

Meanwhile, Katou and Inagaki tagged out with Trude and Erica, respectively.

Apparently, Shirley had the same idea, and before Tri-Edge could recover, Shirley grabbed her before flying straight up. She looped around, and dived straight at the concrete, building up speed before she threw Tri-Edge straight at the concrete runway.

Tri-Edge, finally shaking off her temporary paralysis, saw the situation she was in and angled her body into a standing position, before pouring three-quarters of her magic into her Komet Striker in one instant, making the magical rocket engine scream with power. Using the extra power, she was able to stop her fall, but this came at a cost; not only did she use three-fourths of her magic in that instant, but she also had to use a tenth of her remaining magic to reduce the G's from a sure-death _30G_ pullout into a crushing 10G pullout.

Tri-Edge flew up slowly; sweat drenching her body as she panted in pure exhaustion. _'…I…I have…no choice but…to use 'Drain Heart'…'_ Tri-Edge mind-spoke with Empty Skies, folding the twin swords and placing them back into their sheathes.

'**_Are you MAD?! If you use Drain Heart in your current state…!'_** Empty Skies trailed off, not wanting to think what could happen.

Tri-Edge weakly smirked, and then activated the Drain Heart spell, making seven golden sword-like spikes appear in a semi-circle formation behind her.

Mio saw the seven golden spikes behind Tri-Edge's back, and for the first time since she could remember, felt true _**TERROR.**_ "EVERYBODY, GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" Mio screamed.

All the other Witches looked at Mio, before noticing the pure terror on her face, and instantly looked fearful at Tri-Edge.

Tri-Edge then boosted straight up, stopping at an altitude of two thousand feet. Seven more golden spikes suddenly appeared behind her, making a circle of fourteen golden spikes. The spikes then shot out, spreading to form an even larger circle. Then, to the group's shock and horror, a large golden eye with a green pupil made entirely of magic opened at the center of the golden spiked wheel, which then began rotating in a clockwise direction. A ball of super-condensed magic with a dark green center and a purple outer shell then started to form in front of Tri-Edge, but then flickered out of existence.

Tri-Edge's eyes widened. _'N…No…I can't…not here…'_ were Tri-Edge's last thoughts before she ran out of magic and lost consciousness, letting the ultimate spell fade away as she dropped out of the sky. Suddenly, fifty orbs of white light shot out of the twin swords in their sheathes, and flew off in the directions of Karlsland, Gallia, Britannia, Africa, Romagna, and Fuso. Each of these orbs was a soul that Tri-Edge had stolen from a Witch, and now the souls, having all looked through Tri-Edge's, or rather Yoshika's, life and have all learned the reasons behind her actions, were returning to their respective bodies.

"YOSHIKA, NO!" Mio screamed, flying up and catching her unconscious body. Mio then slowly landed in front of the other Witches.

"Is that Tri-Edge?" Minna asked as she and the rest of the airborne Witches landed next to Mio to get a look at Tri-Edge.

"Her real name is Yoshika Miyafuji." Mio said. "We need to take her to the medical room."

Minna nodded, before she and Ursula, happy to finally reclaim the stolen Komet, removed the Striker Unit from Tri-Edge's legs and walked into the hangar, placing the Komet onto a spare Striker Unit rack, before grabbing several chains and tied the Komet to the rack.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mio took Tri-Edge to the medical room in the base and laid her down onto the bed, removed the sheathes that still held Empty Skies before strapping down her arms and legs to prevent her from escaping.

Mio looked at the forbidden twin swords. "I know you're a pair of sentient twin swords, so will you answer our questions?" Mio asked.

At first, the twin swords were silent, but then answered. **"I will answer all of your questions, but how long will it take for my little sister to recover?"**

Mio raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Your little sister?" Mio asked.

"**Tri-Edge, or rather Yoshika, is like a little sister to me."** Empty Skies answered. **"I believe I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Empty Skies."** Empty Skies introduced.

"My name is Mio Sakamoto." Mio introduced, grabbing the sheathes of Empty Skies. "Now come, you have some explaining to do."

"**Of course."** Empty Skies replied, allowing Mio to handle the sheathes without having her soul being stolen.


	5. Chapter 5

**Driven by Revenge, Tri-Edge**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 5: Explanations, Fitting In, and Gaining a New Strike Witch**

* * *

Ursula and the rest of the Witches (minus Mio) were in the hangar, unchaining the Komet to take it on a test run, with Shirley volunteering to take it out.

"New speed record, here I come!" Shirley exclaimed, hopping into the Komet and pouring her magic into it.

Surprisingly, the Komet didn't start. Heck, it didn't react at all, and Shirley was pumping more than enough magic into it to start the magic rocket engines.

This caught all the Witches in the hangar off-guard. "What? Why won't you start?!" Shirley asked/complained.

"**I can answer that."** Replied an ominous voice.

All the Witches turned to the speaker, only to see Mio looking at a set of twin swords in their sheathes that she was carrying. "Mio, who said that?" Minna asked.

"It was the swords." Mio answered, earning looks from the other Witches.

But those looks change into expressions of shock and surprise when the swords spoke. **"Greetings, Witches. I am the forbidden twin swords, Empty Skies, and the weapons of choice for Tri-Edge, or rather, Yoshika Miyafuji."** Empty Skies spoke.

"D-Did those swords just talk?!" Katou asked, amazed.

Mio ignored her. "Empty Skies, I believe you said you knew the answer to the problem as to why the Komet won't start. Can you explain?" Mio asked.

"**Certainly,"** Empty Skies answered **"it's because the Komet has gone through something called "Magical Signature Lock-On", in which a Striker Unit locks onto the magical signature of a Witch, and will respond to no other magical signatures. But for that to happen completely, a Witch must wear the exact same Striker Unit for a total time of one year. After a Striker Unit completely locks on to your magical signature, not only will it prevent other Witches from using your Striker Unit, but it will also reduce the amount of magic needed to use it by 50%, allowing you to wear the Striker Unit for twice as long before you run out of magic."** This surprised the other Witches, but the swords weren't done talking yet. **"And since Tri-Edge never took off the Komet Striker Unit for four and a half years, the Komet had plenty of time to completely lock-on to her magical signature."**

Now all the Witches were shocked. "What?! You mean Yoshika never took off the Komet for four and a half years?!" Mio asked incredulously. "Why?!"

"**It's because the Komet and I have become something akin to a security blanket for Tri-Edge; she doesn't feel safe when one is missing, and when both are gone, she feels absolutely defenseless and becomes extremely scared."** Empty Skies then felt extreme discomfort through his mental link with Tri-Edge. **"Just like now. I sense Tri-Edge is awake, and before you ask, I sensed it because me and Tri-Edge share a mental link with each other. You might want to return me to her now, because she's in a panic."**

Mio's eyes widened, and she immediately ran off to the medical room, with all the other Witches following her.

* * *

In the medical room, all the Witches saw Tri-Edge struggling furiously, trying get rid of the straps holding her down. Tri-Edge then saw all the Witches staring at her, and they all saw a huge amount of fear in her eyes as she began struggling even more. A few brave Witches, namely Mio, Minna, Ursula, Trude, and Marseille, walked over to her.

"No! Stay away from me!" Tri-Edge yelled, her voice full of fear.

"Yoshika…" Mio tried, but Tri-Edge ignored her.

"Please, stay away!" Tri-Edge yelled again, struggling even more against her bindings.

"Yoshika!" Mio tried again.

"Stay back!" Tri-Edge was now in a full-blown panic.

"YOSHIKA MIYAFUJI!" Mio yelled.

"JUST PLEASE, STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Tri-Edge screamed.

"**TRI-EDGE! CALM DOWN THIS INSTANT!" **Empty Skies bellowed, making all the Witches wince; they didn't expect a pair of sentient swords to be able to be that loud.

To the Witches' immense shock, the sound of Empty Skies' voice instantly made Tri-Edge cease her struggling and quiet down.

"E-E-E-Empty…S-Skies…?" Tri-Edge asked hesitantly.

"**Mio, undo the straps this instant!"** Empty Skies ordered, leaving no room for arguments.

Mio reluctantly complied; slowly undoing Tri-Edge's binding straps in case she tried to escape. But Tri-Edge stayed completely still, too scared to react.

"**Give me to her."** Empty Skies said, once Tri-Edge's restraints were removed.

Mio slowly handed Tri-Edge her twin swords. Tri-Edge, upon seeing Empty Skies, snatched them from Mio's hands, but instead of drawing the swords like the Witches expected her to, she held them tightly to her chest and curled into a ball, sobbing helplessly and scared out of her mind. Tri-Edge then noticed that she wasn't wearing the Komet anymore. "T-T-The Komet…?! Where is…?!" Tri-Edge asked, starting to panic again.

"Confiscated." Minna said, unaware of Tri-Edge's rapidly rising panic.

"**Not helping."** Empty Skies growled at Minna.

Mio sighed, already figuring out the only way to calm Tri-Edge back down. She walked out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Ursula asked.

"Ursula, you're going to hate me for this, but it's the only way to calm her down." Mio replied, before walking to the hangar.

The Witches were confused, but went wide-eyed when Mio returned, carrying the Me 163 Komet Striker. "Yoshika, are you looking for these?" Mio asked, placing the Komet Strikers at the foot of the bed Tri-Edge was curled up on and slowly backing away, not making any sudden movements that might provoke Tri-Edge to attack on instinct.

Tri-Edge, hearing Mio's voice, looked up to see the familiar sight of her Komet Striker Unit. Crawling to the foot of the bed, Tri-Edge slowly slid her feet into the Komet, making sure if it was the real deal, while the Witches looked on, tense for any aggressive movements. Tri-Edge, after confirming that the Striker Unit was indeed the Komet, visibly calmed down and relaxed as she climbed back into the bed and got under the covers, while still wearing the Striker Unit. Tri-Edge pointed to Mio and asked hesitantly, "W…Who are…?"

Mio smiled, glad that Tri-Edge had calmed down and was talking, even if it was only a little bit. "My name is Mio Sakamoto." Mio introduced.

Tri-Edge smiled sleepily. "Big sister…Mio Sakamoto…" Tri-Edge said, before falling asleep.

Mio and the rest of the Witches blinked. "Big sister? Me?" Mio asked.

"**To be honest with you, I did **_**not**_** see that coming…"** Empty Skies replied. **"I believe I should explain why Tri-Edge did what she did…or better yet, let me show you."**

The Witches were confused at first, but then their eyes widened when Empty Skies started sending them images of Tri-Edge's, or rather, Yoshika's past.

They saw it all; her childhood, how she was timid and shy all the time, her meeting Micchan, and her 'Daddy', Ichiro Miyafuji, leaving his daughter to conduct his research. Then the Witches saw what happened during the night that Yoshika's family got Ichiro's death notice, and how heart-broken Yoshika was. They then saw Yoshika sneaking into a shrine hidden under a fountain and activate her unique ability, "Ultimate Decryption", her pupils turning into targeting reticules as she did so. At first, the Witches were confused as to what this ability did, but when the twin swords explained exactly what this ability did, they were impressed. Yoshika, using her ability, read the blacked-out document before becoming enraged. When the Witches asked what the document said, the swords switched the perspective to Yoshika's POV, so they were able to read the document. The Witches also felt enraged at Trevor Maloney, because he's the one who (indirectly, of course) turned Yoshika into the feared Tri-Edge. The twin swords then switched the perspective back to normal, while showing Yoshika and the swords having a conversation, which ended up with Yoshika taking Empty Skies from the shrine and leaving the note which Mio is currently in possession of. The scene then shifted to the Karlsland base where Yoshika stole the Komet, and the chase scene showing Yoshika leaving her pursuers in the dust. The swords explained that, back then, Yoshika had enough magical power to use the Komet for fifteen hours nonstop, earning gob-smacked looks from the Witches. The scene then shifted to the cave that Yoshika found, where she demonstrated another ability, "Color Alteration." When the swords explained what that ability did, Raisa, who has quite an artistic side, got stars in her eyes while imagining all the things she could do if she had that ability. The scene continued, showing the moment when Yoshika renamed herself "Tri-Edge", the name that would eventually instill fear into all Witches who heard it. The scene then shifted again, showing all the battles that Yoshika, or rather, Tri-Edge took part in, each one having the same outcome with Tri-Edge coming out of the fight on top. The scenes then shifted to Tri-Edge's life between those battles, showing that she was forced to hunt animals for food. It then showed a particularly bad time in Tri-Edge's life which resulted in her seeing the Komet and Empty Skies like a life-line.

* * *

_Flashback, Four and a Half Years Ago…_

_Tri-Edge was hunting a small herd of deer in complete silence, not knowing that she was being followed._

'**Hold it, Tri-Edge.'**_ Empty Skies said, making Tri-Edge stop. _**'We're being followed.'**

'Can you tell how many?'_ Tri-Edge asked._

_Empty Skies was silent for a moment._** 'There are thirty of them. Be careful, I think they're-'**

_All of a sudden, thirty wolves jumped out of the foliage and surrounded Tri-Edge._

'**-wolves.'**_ Empty Skies finished._

_Tri-Edge started shaking; when she was a little girl, she used to be very adventurous and outgoing with a love of the outdoors, but on one of these outdoor adventures, she was attacked by a lone wolf. She would have been killed if it wasn't for the lucky arrival of her mother, who had heard her scream for help and had come running with a shotgun, shooting the wolf in the head. Ever since that day, she only went into the woods if it was absolutely necessary._

_Suddenly, all thirty wolves lunged at Tri-Edge, causing her to panic._

"_Stay away!" she yelled, swinging her left blade at the first wolf, slicing off its head._

_Apparently, the wolf that she killed was the leader, because all the other wolves started snarling in anger and lunged at her._

_Tri-Edge panicked; she wasn't wearing the Komet during this hunting trip, so she wasn't able to simply fly away. Instead, the only thing she did was scramble up a nearby tree, causing all the wolves to get even angrier at losing their prey._

_Tri-Edge then jumped from tree to tree back to her cave, the wolves following her._

_Back at the cave, Tri-Edge knew she was being followed, and quickly put on the Komet Strikers. Right as she did so, the remaining twenty-nine wolves arrived at the cave and, upon spotting Tri-Edge, lunged at her. Tri-Edge, in a panic, angled her Strikers so that the rocket nozzles were pointed at the wolves and, after firmly planting herself into the ground, pumped half of her magic into the Komet in one instant, causing a _huge_ tongue of magic-induced flames to spew out of the nozzles and into the wolves, disintegrating twenty-six of them. The three remaining wolves stopped, and started backing up in fear. Tri-Edge, now running on instinct, removed herself from the ground and drew Empty Skies, unfolded the triple-edged weapons, and charged the remaining three wolves, slicing off their heads._

_Tri-Edge, after seeing that all the wolves were dead, broke down crying._

"_I will NEVER take off the Komet again…" Tri-Edge declared, mostly to herself._

"_**If that would make you feel safe, then I don't see why not."**__ Empty Skies spoke, feeling the huge amount of fear in his mental link with Tri-Edge, and wanting to keep her safe._

_Tri-Edge nodded weakly, giving her thanks to the twin swords before she flew out of the cave for good, in search of a new cave._

_Flashback End_

* * *

Empty Skies cancelled the visions, allowing the Witches to regain their senses.

"**Now do you know why Tri-Edge has done what she did? Now do you know her reasons? Now do you understand why she is acting the way she is right now?"** Empty Skies asked.

All the Witches nodded, each of them shocked that Tri-Edge, or rather, Yoshika had such a hard life. It also explained the panic attacks she had earlier.

"All those years alone…" Lucchini said solemnly. "I understand now. She sees the twin swords and the Komet as a life-line, and without them, she would be completely helpless."

"It also explains why she panicked earlier when she saw that both were missing." Minna added.

"Now I understand why she sees Mio as a big sister." Kitano realized. "It's because out of all of us, Mio was the only one who made any attempt to help her when she was scared."

"What do we do now, though?" Perrine asked. "Do we contact her family and tell them we've found her?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea." Trude explained. "She would repeatedly try to escape until she eventually takes her own life. I think it would be better to wait until after she completes her revenge against Maloney. Heck, I'll even assist her with it."

"Not if I get to that bastard first." Marseille growled in anger. She was _furious_ at Maloney for (indirectly) turning an innocent child like Yoshika into the feared entity known as Tri-Edge.

Mio and Minna yawned. "All right, everybody. We can continue this tomorrow." Minna said, seemingly calm. But on the inside, her rage was brewing, and it was all directed towards Maloney, but she couldn't report him yet, because if she did, Maloney would escape and tracking him down would be next to impossible.

All the Witches agreed, and they headed for their respective rooms to get a good night's sleep, except Sanya and Eila, who went on night patrol. Mio opted to stay with Tri-Edge throughout the night, something that miffed Perrine, but Perrine understood the reasoning behind it; Tri-Edge saw Mio as a big sister, and would need someone she can trust to be with her.

* * *

The next morning, all the Witches (except Mio, because she's still asleep with Tri-Edge) were in the dining room, talking amongst themselves.

Marseille walked up to Minna. "Well, Minna. It was good seeing you, but the Storm Witches have to get back to Africa. We had a blast here, but we're pretty angry at Maloney." Marseille said.

"I understand, Marseille." Minna said. "In fact, we're all pretty angry at Maloney, but if anyone is going to take him down, I believe Tri-Edge should be the one to do it."

Marseille, along with all the other Witches, agreed.

That was when Mio walked into the dining room, leading a reluctant Tri-Edge who was still wearing the Komet Striker with her.

The Witches blinked, but shook it off as they remembered that Tri-Edge sees the Komet and Empty Skies as a life-line, something that saddened them greatly.

"…and this is the dining room." Mio explained, who seemed to be giving a tour of the base to Tri-Edge, who looked around curiously, taking slow, deliberate steps to avoid tripping while wearing the Komet.

"Dining room…?" Tri-Edge asked. "But I'm not…"

_GGGRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUMMMBBLLEE!_

She was cut-off as her stomach practically _roared_ in hunger, making the entire room _shake_ like an earthquake had just gone off, and making Tri-Edge's face go beet-red in pure embarrassment.

All the Witches looked at Tri-Edge with wide eyes, making her hide behind Mio, who gave off her trademark laugh. "Don't be silly, Yoshika. Of course you're hungry. Come on; let's get you something to eat." Mio said, trying to coax Tri-Edge into eating. She may be new to the role as a big sister, but she was already getting the hang of it.

Tri-Edge nodded, her face still beet-red in embarrassment, much to the amusement of the other Witches.

"Lynne, what's there to eat?" Mio asked, sitting at the table next to Perrine on her left, allowing Tri-Edge to sit on her right.

"Britannian pancakes!" Lynne said, giving a stack of pancakes to Mio and Tri-Edge.

Tri-Edge looked at the stack of pancakes in front of her before poking it carefully. "What is this?" Tri-Edge asked, eying the pancakes critically.

"Those are pancakes, Yoshika." Mio explained, pouring syrup on her own stack of pancakes and doing the same for Tri-Edge's. "You really should try them!"

Tri-Edge took a hesitant bite, before her eyes lit up at the rich taste of the pancakes with syrup on them. "Big sister…these are really good!" Tri-Edge exclaimed, before digging into her stack of pancakes.

Mio smiled at her. "Told you so. But next time, let's make sure to get you something to eat _before_ your stomach shakes the entire room." Mio said, grinning.

Tri-Edge, who had just finished off her stack of pancakes, froze, and her face lit up in embarrassment.

All the Witches burst out laughing. "Well, Minna, we've got to go now." Marseille said, leading the Storm Witches out of the base. Destination: Africa.

* * *

An hour later Mio Ursula, and Tri-Edge were walking to the hangar. "So…why am I needed?" Tri-Edge asked

"Since you're the only one who can use the Komet, I need you to go on some flights so I can gather data." Ursula explained.

"Don't worry, Tri-Edge." Mio reassured. "Perrine and I will be flying with you."

Tri-Edge perked up, but was confused at the mention of Perrine's name. "Perrine…oh, you mean Lightning Girl?" Tri-Edge asked.

Mio blinked, and then smiled. "Yes, little sister…'Lightning Girl'."

In the hangar, Perrine was waiting for them, already in her Striker Unit. Mio and Ursula hopped into their own Striker Units, and prepared to take off. "Yoshika, come on!" Mio said as she, Perrine, and Ursula took off.

"Coming, big sis!" Tri-Edge said, taking off as well and catching up to them.

Suddenly, the Neuroi alarm went off, scaring Tri-Edge.

"A Neuroi!" Mio exclaimed, turning back to land, with the other three following her.

* * *

Mio, Perrine, Ursula, and Tri-Edge (who was still wearing the Komet) walked into the briefing room, where the rest of the 501st were waiting. "Glad you could make it." Minna said, and then addressed to all those that were in the room, "Reports indicate the enemy is on its way here from Gallia."

"It seems that they got their predictions right for once." Mio said, confusing Tri-Edge.

"Yes. It's currently flying at 15,000 feet and is heading directly for this base." Minna said.

Mio walked up to the front of the room. "All right. Our routine intercept pattern should suffice. Today's team will consist of Barkhorn and Erica at the fore and Perrine and Lynne at the rear. Ursula and Yoshika will be direct support for Minna and I. Shirley, Lucchini, Eila, and Sanya will remain at base on standby!" Mio explained.

"Holding down the fort! Holding down the fort!" Lucchini sang.

"Guess I'll tune my unit's settings…" Shirley said.

Sanya, predictably, was fast asleep.

"All right! Get ready!" Mio ordered, walking out of the room to the hangar, with Tri-Edge, Minna, Ursula, Trude, Erica, Perrine, and Lynne following.

Several minutes later, the seven Witches and Tri-Edge took off.

"See you later!" Lucchini yelled, waving at them.

* * *

With the group, Mio saw a glint in the distance. "Enemy sighted!" Mio exclaimed.

"What type is it?" Minna asked.

Tri-Edge was silent, which worried Ursula. She took a look at Tri-Edge and gasped; her eyes were as cold as ice. _'No, not cold…calculating.'_ Ursula corrected herself.

"**It seems Tri-Edge has shifted into what she calls "Battle Mode"."** Empty Skies explained as Tri-Edge drew the twin swords and unfolded them.

Mio, meanwhile, lifted up her eye patch to reveal her Magic Eye and used it to zoom in on the Neuroi, seeing that it looked like a cube. "300-meter class. Our usual formation?" Mio asked.

"Yes!" Minna answered.

"Alright! Charge!" Mio ordered.

Erica and Trude dived in on the Neuroi, and Perrine and Lynne did so as well. But then the Neuroi did something that none of them expected.

It split into pieces.

"What?!" Trude asked, alarmed.

"It split into pieces!" Mio exclaimed.

"It would seem so…" Tri-Edge said in a monotone, which worried Mio greatly.

"Yoshika, what's gotten into you?" Mio asked.

Ursula explained. "Empty Skies said that Tri-Edge shifted into what she calls "Battle Mode"."

Minna used her magic ability, "Area Analysis", to determine the new number of Neuroi. "There's eighty on the right, one hundred in the center, and thirty on the left!" Minna said.

"That's two hundred and ten in all. We should all be getting medals after this one!" Mio exclaimed. "So, what's the plan?"

"You look for the Core." Minna ordered.

"Yes, ma'am!" Mio said.

"Barkhorn's team will take the middle!" Minna ordered.

"Understood!" Trude confirmed.

"Perrine's team will take the right!" Minna ordered.

"Understood!" Perrine confirmed.

"Ursula, Tri-Edge, you two will act as direct support for Major Sakamoto." Minna ordered.

"Understood!" Ursula confirmed.

"Primary objective confirmed." Tri-Edge said in the same monotone, which worried all the other Witches, but they shook it off quickly.

"All right. All Witches, begin oper-" Minna started, but was cut off by Tri-Edge.

"Twin Reppuzan." Tri-Edge said in the same monotone, swinging Empty Skies and unleashing two different energy waves that each destroyed twenty Neuroi, bringing down the number of Neuroi to 170.

"Tri-Edge, you are not permitted to attack at will! Only attack the ones that come after you, Ursula, or Mio!" Minna exclaimed. "I don't want you to hit any of the Witches by mistake!"

"Understood. Friendly-fire is not tolerated." Tri-Edge said, still using the same monotone.

"As long as you understand. All Witches, begin operation!" Minna ordered, diving into the swarm of Neuroi. Trude, Erica, Perrine, and Lynne followed suit.

* * *

Down below, the fight was turning into what fighter pilots called a fur-ball. The Witches were moving constantly, firing on any Neuroi that they came across. Since there were 170 of them (Tri-Edge took out 40 of them a few moments ago with two Reppuzans), there were plenty of targets to choose from.

"That's ten for me!" Erica said.

Trude flew next to her so they were back-to back. "I've got twelve!" Trude said. "Looks like this is a perfect chance to really up our kill-scores!"

"Yeah, it's been really slow-going lately!" Erica exclaimed in agreement.

The two then separated as four Neuroi barreled in on them while firing beams.

Perrine and Lynne hovered above the fur-ball. "Listen, your gun isn't made for rapid firing! Fall back and aim!" Perrine ordered.

"Right!" Lynne said.

"You have my back!" Perrine said as she dived into the fray. Several Neuroi then surrounded her. Perrine grunted. "Using this always messes up my hair for the rest of the day…" Perrine complained while charging up her spell "Tonnerre!" Perrine yelled, firing off her electrical attack spell as it hit the surrounding Neuroi, destroying them. Perrine whipped some of her hair out of her face in an overdramatic way, unaware of a Neuroi sneaking up on her from behind. "For me, this is as easy as-" Perrine was cut off as the Neuroi, which was only two feet behind her and was about to fire a point-blank beam, was destroyed by a cannon shot. Perrine jumped (if that is even possible to do in a Striker Unit) in fright, then turned to see another Neuroi attempting to sneak up on her; but it too was destroyed by a cannon shot. Perrine looked up to see Lynne holding her sniper cannon, the end of the barrel smoking. "N-Not bad." Perrine said.

* * *

Tri-Edge looked at the raging battle below them. "Impressive." Tri-Edge said in her now usual monotone.

Ursula nodded.

Mio was looking for the Core, but wasn't having any luck.

Suddenly, four Neuroi flew up at Mio, but right before they could fire, Ursula managed to destroy two of them with her gun, while Tri-Edge, using the Komet's raw speed, charged the other two Neuroi and lashed out with Empty Skies, destroying them before returning to her previous position.

"Keep it up, you two!" Mio encouraged.

* * *

Erica managed to get a good number of Neuroi on her tail and were firing at her. Erica narrowed her eyes, and stopped in midair, allowing the Neuroi to zoom past her. Quickly catching up, Erica destroyed the group with her machine gun. "There's no end to them!" Erica said.

"Where the hell is the Core?!" Trude asked.

* * *

Have you located the Core?" Minna asked, flying up to Mio.

Mio shook her head. "No, not yet." Mio admitted.

"Could this be another diversion?!" Minna asked.

"No, I can sense the Core. It's just not inside that swarm." Mio said.

Tri-Edge felt a flash of lightning in her mind (just like a Newtype from Mobile Suit Gundam, specifically Amuro Ray and Char Aznable), and looked up while covering her eyes, seeing black specks directly in front of the sun diving on them. "Above." Tri-Edge said, firing off a Reppuzan at the diving group of Neuroi, destroying all but one of them.

Mio then confirmed that the one that survived held the Core.

"Is that it?" Minna asked.

"Yes." Mio answered.

"Attention, all Witches!" Minna said through the intercom "Enemy Core located! We're going to take it down, so keep the others off of us!"

"Understood!" was the response she got.

Minna turned to Mio, Ursula, and Tri-Edge. "Let's go!" Minna ordered.

"Yes, ma'am!" Mio responded.

The four then went after the Core. Catching up to it, Minna, Mio, and Ursula fired at it, but Minna and Mio ran out of ammo.

"Ursula, it's all yours! Don't let it get away!" Mio exclaimed.

"Got it!" Ursula said, before carefully aiming at the wildly flying Neuroi and firing, exposing the Core and destroying it, making it and all the other Neuroi shatter. The Witches put up their shields to protect themselves from the shards. One of these shards pierced through Mio's shield and sliced off a single strand of hair, causing Mio, Ursula, and Minna to gasp.

"Good work." Tri-Edge said, before her "Battle Mode" wore off, returning her to normal. "Big sister, how did I do?" Tri-Edge asked.

Mio, recovering from her shock that a shard had pierce her shield, was taken by surprise at how fast Tri-Edge came out of her "Battle Mode", but that didn't last long as she smiled and said, "You did great for your first time with the Witches." Mio praised. "In fact, how would you like to join the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, the Strike Witches?" Mio asked.

Tri-Edge's eyes lit up. "Can I really? Oh, thank you!" Tri-Edge exclaimed, while all the other Witches, who had just flown up to them, smiled; it seems as though they were going to get another member of their "family", if you could call it that.


	6. Chapter 6

**Driven by Revenge, Tri-Edge**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 6: Relations are Tested, the Training Incident, and a Surprise Attack**

* * *

Lynne and Lucchini were taking Tri-Edge on a tour of Britannia by air with their Striker Units. The three were currently flying over a few hills.

"Tri-Edge, I can't wait to show you London!" Lynne exclaimed.

"What's so great about this "London" place, anyway?" Tri-Edge asked.

"You mean you don't know?" Lucchini asked, amazed. "London is a pretty historic place!"

"I have never needed to know history in all my life before, so I don't see the value." Tri-Edge said.

"Well, we'll just have to show you around then!" Lynne said as the three flew over one more hill before London came into view.

Tri-Edge's eyes widened at the sight of London. "That…is one _big_ city…" Tri-Edge said, stunned at the size of the city.

"Let us show you around!" Lynne said as she and Lucchini led Tri-Edge around, flying below the buildings but above the streets. The people below noticed them, and started waving, because they knew what the 501st Joint Fighter Wing was.

Tri-Edge was taken by surprise that the people were waving at them. "Umm…why are they waving at us?" Tri-Edge asked.

"It's because the three of us are a part of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing!" Lucchini replied.

The three then flew above the Thames River (that is the name of the river that runs through London, right? Correct me if I'm wrong). Tri-Edge marveled at the huge river, and flew down to practically wave-top level at high-speeds.

"Tri-Edge! That's dangerous!" Lynne yelled, but Tri-Edge just laughed in joy, ignoring her.

"YAAAAHHHOOOOOOOO!" Tri-Edge whooped in joy, lowering her hands into the river and making contrails in the water.

Lynne and Lucchini looked at each other, before Lucchini flew down to the river and copied what Tri-Edge was doing. "Oh, what the heck?" Lynne asked herself, before she too flew down to the river and did the same thing that Tri-Edge and Lucchini were doing.

Several minutes later, the three pulled up, having grown bored of making contrails in the river.

"We still have to show you Parliament and Big Ben." Lynne said. "Come on!"

"Okay!" Tri-Edge said, but then she spotted a particularly big fish swimming near the surface, and got a grin on her face. "On second thought, wait a second." Tri-Edge said, before she practically dived into the river, Komet and all.

"Tri-Edge! What are you doing?!" Lucchini yelled, before Tri-Edge blasted herself out of the water, using the unique traits of the Komet's magical rocket engines to her advantage, while holding a _huge_ fish that was four feet long and was fairly thick.

"I just caught dinner!" Tri-Edge exclaimed, holding onto the flapping fish tightly so that it wouldn't escape.

Lynne sighed. "Come on! I want to show you Parliament and Big Ben!" Lynne said, before she and Lucchini flew off.

"Wait for me!" Tri-Edge yelled, flying after them.

The three flew near a large building. "That's Parliament." Lynne said, pointing to the building.

"Looks pretty." Tri-Edge mused, before the three flew off to a different location.

The three flew next to a large tower that had four clocks on it. "Now _that's_ a clock!" Tri-Edge stated.

That was when Big Ben tolled four times, scaring the heck out of Tri-Edge, but she managed to keep a hold on the fish that she caught earlier.

Lynne and Lucchini laughed at Tri-Edge's reaction, before they looked at the giant clock, seeing that it was 4:00 p.m. "Oh no! Minna and Mio will get mad at us if we don't go back right now!" Lynne exclaimed, before she and Lucchini flew off as fast as they could back to base.

"Hey, wait up!" Tri-Edge yelled, flying after them and catching up.

* * *

"Do you think we came here for sightseeing?" Mio asked, holding her wooden training sword. "You have absolutely no awareness!" Mio yelled, pointing her wooden sword at Tri-Edge, Lynne, and Lucchini, making the three flinch. "You three just earned yourselves cooking chores!"

Tri-Edge, in response to the word "cooking", dropped the now-dead fish in front of Mio, who nearly gaped at the size of the fish.

"What is this?" Mio asked, recomposing herself quickly.

"Dinner!" Tri-Edge exclaimed. "Can we cook it?" she asked.

"This is not what I meant!" Mio said angrily, before she turned to Lucchini. "Lucchini, take this fish to cold storage. If I see it anywhere else…" Mio said, leaving the threat hanging in the air, before walking off.

"Y-Yes, ma'am…" Lucchini said, taking the fish without complaint; she was already in trouble, and she didn't want to make it worse.

"Cooking..." Tri-Edge mused, and perked up; seeming to get what Mio was talking about. Activating the Komet, she took off. _'I know a great hunting ground nearby that has lots of deer! If I can catch one, we can cook it, and Big Sister Mio will be proud of me!'_ Tri-Edge thought.

Apparently, Tri-Edge misunderstood what Mio meant.

* * *

Lynne was in the kitchen with Lucchini. "Where's Tri-Edge…?" Lynne asked her.

"How should I know?" Lucchini replied, stirring some beans in a pot.

* * *

Two hours later, all the Witches (except Tri-Edge) were eating outside.

Mio looked around. "Where's Yoshika?" Mio asked.

"I don't know." Lynne replied. "She was never in the kitchen as far as I know. I wonder where she is…?"

Lucchini then heard the distinct sound of the Komet approaching them. "Well, wherever she was, she's back now." Lucchini said.

Tri-Edge then landed next to the group, and dropped a dead buck in front of them. "Big Sister! I caught dinner! Can I cook it?" Tri-Edge asked, expecting Mio to be pleased.

Instead, the opposite happened. "Yoshika, where the hell have you been?! I told you that you had cooking chores!" Mio yelled, as she and the rest of the Witches looked at the dead buck with wide eyes; it was much bigger than the average buck normally seen around the area.

Tri-Edge was confused. "But I got something to cook…" she said, confused as to why Mio was angry with her.

Mio was shaking with rage. "This is NOT what I meant!" Mio shouted, shocking the Witches; Mio only shouts when she's _really_ angry. "Take that thing, and GET RID OF IT!"

Tri-Edge had tears in her eyes, and she started crying as she picked up the buck and flew off into the forest.

Ursula, having gotten over her shock, started trembling in rage, and before Mio knew it, Ursula had tackled and pinned her to the ground. "Ursula! What is the meaning of-"

_SLAP!_

Mio was cut off as Ursula slapped her across the cheek, _hard_. This stunned Mio, and made the rest of the Witches gasp in shock. "You IDIOT!" Ursula screamed, a look of raw _fury_ on her face, shocking all the Witches even more; Ursula, not even _once_, has EVER lost her temper before. "Tri-Edge didn't know what you were talking about! Think for once in your life! She has been ALONE for five years! FIVE YEARS! And the only thing she knows how to cook are dead animals that she has worked hard to hunt for! It has been five years ever since she has had ANY kind of interaction with civilization! Why can't you see that?!" Ursula screamed.

Perrine went livid at seeing Mio being tackled. "How DARE you, you little-"

_BANG!_

Perrine was cut off as a bullet grazed her cheek, drawing a single drop of blood, and making all the Witches go wide-eyed.

Ursula got up off of Mio, still holding her slightly smoking pistol. "Back in my unit, stuck-ups like you were kicked out immediately, and were NOT tolerated. _Don't give me a reason to kill you._" Ursula growled, before looking at Mio. "You should be _ashamed_ of yourself right now. What kind of big sister are you if you can't even see what I said earlier?!" Ursula yelled one more time, before running off to the hangar.

Several minutes later, she took off in the direction Tri-Edge flew off in.

Mio, after processing Ursula's words, broke down crying. "She's right…what kind of big sister am I?" Mio asked herself, as the other Witches moved to comfort her.

* * *

Tri-Edge was in a small clearing in the forest, crying her heart out as she cooked the dead buck. "W…What did I do wrong…? Why is Big Sister Mio mad at me…? All I did was get something for us to cook…" Tri-Edge stuttered, before hearing the sound of an approaching Striker Unit. Looking at who it was, Tri-Edge saw Ursula land next to her as she hopped out of her Striker and took a seat next to her.

"…Are you okay?" Ursula asked, worried about Tri-Edge.

Tri-Edge didn't answer at first and looked down, which worried Ursula, but then Tri-Edge answered, "W…Why is Mio angry at me…?" Tri-Edge asked lowly, but Ursula heard her.

"I don't know…" Ursula said truthfully; seriously, why couldn't Mio see that Tri-Edge misunderstood her, and why didn't she explain it to her earlier?

"Is it because she thinks I am weak…?" Tri-Edge asked hesitantly.

"I don't know…but if that's the reason, then we will _prove_ to them that we are NOT weak." Ursula said firmly. It was true; the other Witches saw her as the weakest one among them, having little combat experience.

"Yes…we are not weak…" Tri-Edge mused. "And we will prove it to them…"

"Empty Skies," Ursula said to the two swords on Tri-Edge's back.

"**Yes?"** Empty Skies asked.

"Do you have the power to bestow magical abilities?" Ursula asked.

"**I can, but only once per Witch."** Empty Skies said. **"Why do you ask?"**

"Well, I have a request…" Ursula said. "You can look into my mind right?"

"**Yes, I can."** Empty Skies replied.

"Well, look into my mind to see what it is." Ursula requested, and felt the twin swords go into her mind, allowing them to do as they please. After a few minutes, Empty Skies retreated from her mind.

"**That is a tall order, but one I can easily do. But please keep the fact that I can bestow magical abilities a secret that you will take to the grave. In other words, please don't tell ANYBODY, not even if it costs you your life."** Empty Skies warned.

"You have my word." Ursula confirmed.

"**All right, prepare yourself, because this is going to hurt like hell."** Empty Skies said. That was the only warning Ursula got before her world exploded in pain.

* * *

The next morning, all the Witches (except Ursula and Tri-Edge) were in the briefing room. Mio slammed her hand onto the podium. "We will split into two teams and have a mock battle." Mio declared. "Sanya, Eila, Perrine, Shirley, and I will form one team, while Minna, Barkhorn, Lucchini, Erica, and Lynne will form the other team." Mio explained. "Since Yoshika and Ursula are not with us, they will be receiving twice the amount of training when they get back!"

"All Witches, prepare for take-off!" Minna ordered.

All nine Witches then went to the hangar, equipped their Striker Units and their weapons, and took off.

* * *

Up in the air, Mio saw Minna's group approaching from behind them. "Initiate mock battle." Mio ordered, signaling Sanya and Perrine to break right and Eila and Shirley to break left, who all complied as she looped around to engage Minna's group, but Ursula's words from yesterday still rang in her head.

Minna, meanwhile, signaled Erica and Lynne to break right, and for Trude and Lucchini to break left. The four complied, while she charged forward to meet Mio head-on.

Lucchini leveled out, but immediately came under fire from Shirley. Lucchini threw up her shield to take the hits, as Erica started firing at Shirley, forcing her to break off from her attack.

Lucchini looked to her right, seeing Eila weaving wildly around the gunfire coming from Trude, as Eila fired back.

Lynne was able to get behind Sanya and aimed her anti-tank rifle at her. Pulling the trigger, Lynne was _horrified_ to find out that her gun had jammed. "I-It jammed?!" Lynne exclaimed.

Sanya, taking her chance, aimed her rocket launcher at Lynne and fired several rockets, causing Lynne to throw up her shield in a panic. Lynne was thrown back by the resulting explosion, but was caught by Minna.

"Are you all right?" Minna asked.

"Yeah, I'm all right." Lynne replied.

Minna looked up, seeing Mio charging at her, but was surprised when Mio suddenly stopped. "Mio, is something wrong?" Minna asked, worried.

Minna's words put a stop to the mock battle, causing all the Witches to look at Mio. Now that they looked carefully, they can see that Mio's heart wasn't fully in this battle.

"I…" Mio struggled to say it. "…I can't do it." Mio said finally, shocking everybody present. "It just doesn't feel right without Yoshika and Ursula."

That was when a new voice spoke. "Then look no further."

Sanya's eyes widened, before she threw up a shield straight up, narrowly blocking a hail of gunfire.

"Sanya!" Eila yelled worriedly, before she and the rest of the Witches looked up to see the shooter, who, to their surprise, just so happened to be Ursula.

"Sister! Where have you been?!" Erica asked.

Ursula said nothing, but then suddenly pointed her gun at Erica and opened fire, causing Erica's eyes to widen in shock as she quickly threw up her shield, blocking the gunfire.

"Ursula Hartmann! What is the meaning of this?!" Minna yelled, but then she also had to throw up a shield to block Ursula's gunfire.

Ursula had just thrown the mock battle into chaos.

"All Witches, shoot down Ursula!" Minna ordered, as the Witches complied, Lynne finally getting her anti-tank rifle unjammed.

Ursula smirked. "What makes you think I'm alone?" she asked, before another Witch zoomed past her and straight at Perrine, who threw up her shield on instinct, blocking an all too familiar triple-bladed sword, revealing her attacker to be Tri-Edge. Then, to Perrine's horror, the sword that she was blocking started to cut through her shield.

She was saved at the last second by Lynne, who fired a shot straight at Tri-Edge, forcing her to break off her attack.

"Yoshika…why?" Mio stuttered.

Ursula answered. "Because you all see us as weak. We will prove that we are not weak, by defeating you in battle!" Ursula and Tri-Edge then charged, but were stopped when the Neuroi alarm suddenly sounded. "We will finish this later." Ursula said as she and Tri-Edge flew to the top of the base's tower, where a man was holding up a blackboard with the Neuroi's coordinates on it. Reading it, the two took off in the direction of Gallia, making all the other Witches follow them.

* * *

Mio managed to catch up to Tri-Edge. "Yoshika…I'm sorry for yesterday. I wasn't thinking straight, and there was a misunderstanding between us…" Mio apologized, hoping beyond all hope that Tri-Edge would forgive her.

Luckily for her, Tri-Edge seemed to understand. "…You are forgiven…big sister." Tri-Edge said.

Mio had tears of happiness in her eyes. "Thank you…little sister." Mio said.

All the other Witches, including Ursula, smiled at the two of them, happy that things between them are good now.

"Ursula…did you do what you did _just_ to make them reconcile?" Minna asked.

"Not exactly." Ursula replied. "I don't like it when misunderstandings happen between family members that lead to arguments. But I also did it to prove to all of you that I am not as weak as you think I am."

Minna nodded. "Understandable."

* * *

Mio lifted up her eye patch and used her Magic Eye to zoom in on the Neuroi, and was shocked to see its Core _moving_. "This is going to be tough…" Mio mused.

"Why? What's wrong?" Trude asked.

"I don't think we've ever dealt with a Moving-Core type Neuroi before…" Mio said.

"WHAT?!" all the Witches, except Tri-Edge, shouted. "The only way to destroy those types is to first quickly destroy the entire body, only then can the Core be destroyed."

Tri-Edge decided to take matters into her own hands. "…I have one spell that can kill it in one hit…" Tri-Edge said, going into Battle Mode again.

Mio blinked, and then her eyes widened in realization as the Neuroi came into view. "You don't mean Drain Heart, do you?!" Mio asked, alarmed.

"…Yes." Tri-Edge replied, already getting the spell ready if the seven golden spikes on her back were of any indication.

"All Witches, keep your distance from the Neuroi, but be ready to fight just in case Yoshika's spell fails!" Mio ordered.

All the Witches complied, staying far away enough from the Neuroi to not get caught in the blast, yet close enough to help out just in case Tri-Edge's spell fails.

Tri-Edge then boosted straight up, stopping when she was two thousand feet above the Neuroi. Seven more golden spikes suddenly appeared behind her, making a circle of fourteen golden spikes. The spikes then shot out, spreading to form an even larger circle. Then, a large golden eye with a purple pupil made entirely of magic opened at the center of the golden spiked wheel, which then began rotating in a clockwise direction. A ball of super-condensed magic with a dark green center and a purple outer shell then started to form in front of Tri-Edge.

Tri-Edge cupped her two hands into a fist. _"DRAIN HEART!"_ Tri-Edge yelled, bringing up her combined fist, and bringing it down, sending the large magical energy ball down, crashing into the Neuroi. Then, to all of the Witches' shock, a white ethereal figure that looked like the angel of death (Skeith's Final Form in the .hack/G.U. games) appeared, its three red eyes flashing an eerie shade of red. The figure then spread out its arms, causing the energy ball to glow in an intense bright light, making the Witches shield their eyes.

When the Witches looked where the figure should have been, they found that it was gone. But to their immense shock, the Neuroi was also gone; there weren't even any fragments left. It was as if the Neuroi never existed at all.

Tri-Edge flew down to the shell-shocked group. "…The spell was a success." Tri-Edge said simply, before her Battle Mode wore off.

All the other Witches could only stare at where the Neuroi once was in shock. _'If Tri-Edge/Yoshika actually succeeded in using Drain Heart during that time we faced her…'_ were the thoughts of the Witches.

Tri-Edge waved her hands in front of the Witches, confused. This snapped them back to reality.

Mio looked at her adoptive little sister. "…Well, Yoshika. Care to show me how you caught that fish?" Mio asked, a warm smile on her face. _'I need to be more considerate. From now on, whenever I ask something of her, I'll explain what I mean and guide her through it. It's the least I can do to make up for this misunderstanding.'_ Mio thought.

Tri-Edge perked up. "Of course! Just leave it to Master Tri-Edge!" Tri-Edge exclaimed jokingly, causing Mio to let out her trademark laugh.

"All right, "Master Yoshika", show your "student" how you do your craft." Mio said, going along with the joke, much to the amusement of Minna.

"Follow me." Tri-Edge said, leading the Witches to London.

* * *

At London, all the Witches were hovering twenty feet above the Thames River, more specifically one of the good fishing spots. "All right. First Step: Choosing your Target." Tri-Edge explained, going into what would later be jokingly known as "Lecture Mode". "You must first select a fish that you want to catch. It can be any fish, but the larger, the better. See that big one right there?" Tri-Edge asked, pointing to a large fish that was barely visible.

The Witches nodded.

"That fish is my target. Now, the Second Step: Power Build-Up. This is where you charge your Striker Units with magical power, but do not release it. Instead, keep it from being released as you build it up. This step is tricky for beginners, but you'll get the hang of it after a while. Now, the Third Step: Patience. You must wait for the perfect moment to strike, because if you go in early, your prey will get away, and if you strike too late, your prey will get away. Instead, wait for the perfect-" Tri-Edge then practically boosted herself straight down into the river, right on top of the fish she was targeting, catching the other Witches off-guard. Ten seconds later, Tri-Edge blasted herself out of the water, carrying a _huge_ fish that was as long as she was tall while wearing the Komet, and was pretty thick as well, causing all the Witches to gape. "-opportunity to strike, as I have demonstrated. Then the Final Step: The Lunge. Release all the built-up magic into your Striker Units in that one instant, and dive in and grab your prey. If you're successful, you can catch nearly any fish you set your sights on, putting any fisherman to shame." Tri-Edge finished, slightly struggling with the wildly flopping fish. "Big Sister, could you give me a hand here?"

"Uh, sure." Mio said, snapping out of her shock as she held onto the front half of the fish as the Witches returned to base. "Everyone, we're having fish tonight!"

All the other Witches nodded, applauding Tri-Edge for a job well done in catching their dinner.


	7. Chapter 7

**Driven by Revenge, Tri-Edge**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 7: Restoring Magic, the Jet Striker, and the End of the Komet**

* * *

At the Strike Witches base, Shirley was in the hangar performing a routine check on her Striker Unit's Merlin magical engines, while wearing nothing but a bikini top and a pair of panties. The winds generated from testing the engines were rattling around some loose light fixtures and blowing around loose papers.

Shirley revved the magical engines a few times. "All right, my Merlin engine is in top shape again today." Shirley said, grinning.

"Captain Charlotte Yeager!" Trude yelled over the engine noise, walking into the hangar.

"Huh?" Shirley asked, looking at Trude.

"What the hell are you doing dressed like that?" Trude asked, annoyed.

"Uh… I'm just testing the engine." Shirley answered, powering down her Striker Unit.

"That's not my point!" Trude said, placing her hands on her hips. "Right now, we're on standby for battle. What would you do if a Neuroi showed up?" Trude asked.

"But it gets so hot inside the hangar when I rev the engine while testing it…" Shirley complained, pointing at her Striker Unit's engines, showing the distorted air around them. "See! She's stripped down, too!" Shirley exclaimed, pointing up to one of the beams.

Trude looked up, only to see Lucchini stripped down to only wearing a bikini top and panties as well, while lying on top of a blanket. Lucchini just groaned in response to Shirley's exclamation.

"Sheesh! You two are just terrible!" Trude complained.

Shirley grinned. "Oh? So people from Karlsland are sticklers for the rules, are they?" Shirley asked. "Then what's your excuse, Erica?" she asked, a smug look on her face.

Trude turned around, only to gawk at the sight of Erica wearing nothing but a bikini top and panties. "It's a billion degrees in here." Erica moaned out.

"E-Erica! You, too?!" Trude asked, alarmed. "And you call yourself a Karlsland soldier?!"

"Huh?" Erica asked. "Uh, yeah."

Shirley laughed as Tri-Edge, Ursula, and Mio walked into the hangar.

"Big Sister, why is it so hot in here?" Tri-Edge asked, taking slow steps to avoid tripping while wearing the Komet.

"Shirley was just testing her Striker's engines again." Mio explained, used to Shirley's antics, and the usual high temperatures that result as well.

"Tri-Edge, you told me that you had an idea for an improvement for all Striker Units, is that right?" Ursula asked, getting the attention of Trude, Shirley, Lucchini, and Mio.

Tri-Edge nodded. "Yes, Ursula. But I want to test it on a normal Striker Unit before I apply it to the Komet to make sure it works first." Tri-Edge explained.

"What's the improvement?" Shirley asked, interested in the improvement that Tri-Edge was talking about.

"Oh, it's adding magic amplifiers to the Striker Units. I have an idea on how to do it." Tri-Edge said, earning wide eyes from all those that were present.

"M-Magic amplifiers?! The top researchers are having difficulties with that, and you think you can make it work?!" Ursula exclaimed.

"Yup!" Tri-Edge grinned.

"Yoshika, if you can make it work, then you will have successfully increased the retirement age for all Witches!" Mio said with a hint of excitement in her voice. "Now, I believe it's time for you to start your training with a gun."

Tri-Edge nodded as Mio gave her a gun similar to the type she uses. "You will train with that weapon. Don't worry; I'll be there to help you out." Mio said, giving her little sister a reassuring grin as she hopped into her Striker Unit.

"And while you're at it, I can gather flight data on the Komet as well." Ursula said as she also hopped into her Striker Unit.

Tri-Edge, Mio, and Ursula then took off, Tri-Edge carrying her training gun with her.

* * *

Up in the air, Tri-Edge was trying her best to hit the clay targets that were being launched from the ground, but with little success. "Big Sister, this is really hard." Tri-Edge said, firing at another clay target that was launched.

"I know it's your first time, but don't worry. You'll get the hang of it eventually." Mio said as Tri-Edge ran out of ammo.

Tri-Edge pulled the trigger again, confused as to why the gun suddenly stopped firing. "Sister, I think the gun is broken." Tri-Edge said.

"It's not broken, Yoshika. The gun just ran out of ammo." Mio explained. "We have to go back to the hangar to resupply."

"Hold on a minute." Ursula cut in. "Tri-Edge, can I see the gun for a minute?" she asked.

"Uh, sure." Tri-Edge said, giving Ursula her empty gun.

"Thanks. Now watch…" Ursula said as she started glowing with magic, the glow transferring to the gun as well. After a few seconds, the glow died down. "Here, now try shooting again." Ursula said, giving Tri-Edge her gun back.

"Okay." Tri-Edge said, aiming for another clay target and pulling the trigger.

To Mio's absolute shock, the gun fired. "Ursula, what did you do?!" Mio asked, amazed.

"It's an ability that I've kept secret from you all this time." Ursula explained. "It's called "Ammo Rejuvenation". What it allows me to do is restore the ammunition of any gun I pump my magic into. I kept it a secret because I wanted to be a researcher, and if the higher ups got wind of this ability, they would have sent me to the front lines instead of allowing me to become a researcher."

Mio simply nodded; amazed that such an ability existed.

"**Ursula, I will make an exception with Mio Sakamoto since she's like a big sister to Tri-Edge."** Empty Skies said, confusing Mio.

"Okay." Ursula said, before turning off her intercom and requesting Mio to do the same, which she did. "You know what I just told you? That's the cover story. The truth is that Empty Skies has the power to bestow magical abilities, but can only do it once per Witch." Ursula said, making Mio look at the twin swords with wide eyes.

"**Under no circumstances are you to reveal what I can do, under penalty of death. Do I make myself clear?"** Empty Skies asked.

Mio gulped, nodding.

"**Good, now hold still. I know about your failing magic, and I will restore it. But the process will hurt like hell. Ursula, be prepared to catch her."** Empty Skies said as the twin swords started to restore Mio's magic, making her scream in pain and drop from the sky, but Ursula caught her.

Tri-Edge heard Mio's scream. "Big Sister!" Tri-Edge exclaimed, flying to her as Ursula held her. "Empty Skies! What are you doing?!" Tri-Edge yelled.

"**I am simply restoring her magic. I admit that the process hurts, but it's better than her magic failing her when she needs it the most, killing her as a result."** Empty Skies explained, making Tri-Edge and Ursula nod their heads in understanding as Mio's screams stopped. **"It is done."**

"Ugh…" Mio groaned, waking up. "That hurt…"

"**Try flying."** Empty Skies said.

"Alright." Mio said, pumping her magic into her Striker Unit. She was quickly snapped back to reality when she found that she had a much easier time doing so. "M-My magic. It's…"

"**Restored. By my calculations, you should be able to wear the Striker Unit for ten more years before I have to restore your magic again."** Empty Skies explained.

Mio couldn't help herself. "YAHOO! I can truly fly again!" she hollered in joy, before noticing a speck in the distance that was approaching the base.

Ursula noticed the speck as well, and her eyes widened. "That's the Karlsland research team! They're here!" Ursula exclaimed, flying back down to the hangar as the plane landed.

Mio looked at her adoptive little sister. "Yoshika, let's go greet them. Your gun training can come later." Mio said, allowing Tri-Edge to take a break.

"Okay!" Tri-Edge said, following Mio.

* * *

In the hangar, the research team was unloading a red Striker Unit like no one has ever seen before. Ursula walked up to the lead researcher. "Is this the new prototype I was told about?" Ursula asked.

The researcher nodded, and then got back on the plane as it prepared to take off. Two minutes later, the plane took off.

Minna then walked into the hangar as Mio and Tri-Edge landed to take a look at the new Striker Unit. "Oh… So this is the new model from Karlsland." Mio said.

"More precisely, it's a prototype." Minna said, looking at a clipboard. "Me 262 V1. It's a Jet Striker."

"Jet?" Erica, still wearing only a bikini top and panties, asked.

"First Lieutenant Hartmann, why are you dressed like that?" Minna asked.

"Damn it, Hartmann! Put some clothes on!" Trude yelled, running up to them, before noticing the Me 262. "What's that?" Trude asked.

"Apparently, a Jet Striker." Erica said.

"Jet? The thing R&D's been working on?" Trude asked.

"Correct. It's a prototype next-generation Striker Unit developed in Neue Karlsland." Ursula explained, looking at her own clipboard. "It's many times more powerful than a reciprocating engine Striker. It also has a listed top speed of over 950 km/h." The last part got Shirley's attention.

"950? That's incredible!" Shirley exclaimed, still wearing only a bikini top and panties.

"This is the reciprocating engine Striker's eventual replacement." Minna continued for Ursula.

"Shirley, why are you dressed like that, too?" Mio asked.

Trude then noticed the _huge_ gun next to the Jet Striker. "What's this?" Trude asked.

"Weapons specially developed for the Jet Striker." Ursula explained. "One 50mm cannon and four 30mm autocannons."

"Incredible!" Trude exclaimed.

"Can it really fly, with all that equipped?" Mio asked.

"Let me try this on." Shirley requested.

"No. I'm gonna try it." Trude said.

"Says who?" Shirley asked. "I don't see your name written on it!"

"What are you talking about?" Trude asked. "If anyone should use a Striker developed in Karlsland, it's me!"

Their arguing woke up Lucchini, who looked at the Jet Striker curiously.

"Nationality has nothing to do with it. The thing flies over 950 km/h!" Shirley exclaimed. "I'm the expert when it comes to high-speed, so I should be the one to wear it!"

"Is speed all you ever think about?" Trude asked. "Don't be such a hog!"

"You're calling me a hog?!" Shirley yelled.

"They're at it again." Minna sighed, drawing a confused look from Tri-Edge.

"What to do with those two…" Mio wondered.

Lucchini then suddenly vaulted from the beams on the ceiling. "First one in!" Lucchini exclaimed, jumping into the Jet Striker.

"H-Hey!" Trude yelled.

"No fair, Lucchini!" Shirley complained.

Lucchini grinned, powering up the Me 262. "If you wanna win, you've gotta be quick!" Lucchini exclaimed. But then the Jet Striker literally shocked her due to the high amount of power, making her jump out of the Striker and run and hide.

"Lucchini, what happened?" Shirley asked, running up to her.

"I-I felt something crazy!" Lucchini exclaimed.

"Something crazy?" Shirley asked.

"I hate it." Lucchini said. "Shirley, don't wear it."

Shirley looked at her friend for a few seconds, before turning to Trude. "Yeah, I think I'll pass on it." Shirley said.

"What?" Trude asked.

"Thinking about it a bit, there are still lots I haven't done with a reciprocating engine yet." Shirley said, scratching her head. "There'll be plenty of time for jets later."

Trude grinned. "Cold feet, huh?" Trude asked, hopping into the Jet Striker. "Then watch me. I'll wear it!" She then powered it up, the magical jet engines roaring to life. "Incredible." She then turned to Shirley. "Well? With your reciprocating engine Striker, think you can beat this?" Trude asked.

Minna and Mio sighed, confusing Tri-Edge even more.

"What did you say?!" Shirley yelled. "Act your age already, will you? You're behaving like a kid who just got a new toy."

"Sour grapes? How pathetic." Trude said.

"I just changed my mind. I'm fine with this one." Shirley said, placing a hand on her P-51D Striker Unit.

"You Liberions love your lies of convenience." Trude criticized.

"What?! You're a stubborn, military blockhead that cares for nothing else!" Shirley yelled.

* * *

Five minutes later, both Trude and Shirley were in their Striker Units; Trude in her Me 262 V1 Jet Striker, and Shirley in her P-51D Mustang reciprocating engine Striker. Both of them took off.

"Go!" Trude yelled as Shirley pulled up next to her.

"What on earth is going on?" Perrine asked.

"Trude and Shirley are competing." Minna explained.

"Round one is who can go the highest!" Lucchini yelled to the two that were in the air through the intercom. "Good luck, Shirley!"

Tri-Edge then blasted off after the two that were in the air; she knew a competition when she saw one, and she wanted to take part in it.

As the (now three) contestants were climbing, Shirley's Striker Unit suddenly sputtered out at 12,000 meters, making her grit her teeth in frustration as she watched Trude and Tri-Edge continue to climb.

"Shirley topped out at 12,000 meters." Sanya, who was using her Magic Antenna to monitor their progress, said. "Trude and Tri-Edge are continuing to climb. Amazing…"

Trude looked behind her to see Shirley stall. "Looks like I win this round…" Trude said, before noticing Tri-Edge still next to her. "You're competing too, eh? Well, prepare to-" Trude was cut off by the sound of her Jet Striker sputtering out, but Tri-Edge was still continuing to climb.

"Trude topped out at 18,500 meters, but Tri-Edge is still climbing without any signs of slowing down." Sanya said, wide-eyed.

"No, I am the winner of this round." Tri-Edge corrected as she still continued to climb.

* * *

After a two-hour break, Trude and Shirley were in the air again. "The second round is to see who can carry the most weight." Minna explained as Shirley managed to pick up two crates, each weighing eighty pounds, by the ropes attached to them and lifted them up into the air.

Trude, meanwhile, managed to pick up eight crates also weighing eighty pounds each by their ropes attached to them, and lifted them up into the air, beating Shirley. "Looks like I win this one, Shirley!" Trude called.

Shirley gritted her teeth in frustration.

_HONK! HONK!_

The two turned around to look at what made the noise, only to gawk at the sight before them.

For directly in front of them was Tri-Edge, who was carrying the base's supply truck with Ursula in the driver's seat. Ursula rolled down her window and stuck her head out. "I believe Tri-Edge wins this round, too!" Ursula called, grinning at the power of the Komet that she herself made all those years ago.

Down on the ground, Minna, Perrine, Eila, Sanya, Erica, Lynne, and Lucchini was staring at Tri-Edge, slack-jawed. Mio, meanwhile, was busting a gut laughing. "Way to go, little sister!" Mio exclaimed through the intercom.

"Thanks!" Tri-Edge replied, before flying back down to the base and placing the supply truck on the ground, allowing Ursula to get out.

* * *

After another two-hour break, Trude and Shirley walked into the hangar, looking for Tri-Edge. Not seeing any sign of her, the two relaxed slightly as Minna explained the third round. "The third round is to see who can carry the biggest amount of weaponry. The amount of guns matter, as does the amount of ammunition, but the bigger the gun, the better." Minna said, also looking for Tri-Edge. She relaxed at not seeing her, but was puzzled when she didn't find Mio either.

Shirley hopped into her Striker Unit, strapping on two M1918 Browning Automatic Rifles, each with an experimental 40 round magazine, to her back, while wearing a vest filled with spare 40 round magazines. In her right hand was a Thompson Submachine Gun with a 100 round drum magazine. "Can you fly, carrying all that?" Lynne asked.

"My P-51 is my all-purpose weapon." Shirley replied. "I know I can count on it, no matter the situation."

"What's the event this time?" Perrine asked, walking up to them.

"Apparently, it's an arsenal load competition to see who can be the most armed." Lynne explained.

"Shouldn't you start by shedding some of that weight off your chest, Shirley?" Perrine asked.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Trude said, walking up to them while wearing the Jet Striker. The three turned to look at Trude, and were surprised at her load out.

Trude had a belt of 50mm shells being worn like a sash, and was carrying the four 30mm autocannons in her hands. Strapped to her back was the 50mm cannon.

"A-Are you okay with all that, Trude?!" Lynne exclaimed.

"This is nothing." Trude scoffed.

"Hey, there's no way you can fly with all that." Shirley said, amazed.

Up in the air were two barrage blimps that would be used as targets.

Shirley flew in first, firing away with her Thompson Submachine Gun at the first blimp, emptying the drum. Exchanging the now-empty Thompson for the two M1918 Browning Automatic Rifles strapped to her back, Shirley made sure that the Thompson was secured to her back and fired her two Brownings at the barrage blimp, finally managing to make it burst into flames.

Then Trude flew in, still carrying all that weight.

"No way…" Shirley gasped.

"Target in sight." Trude said, grinning as she brought up her four autocannons and fired four shots, each shot tearing into the second barrage blimp, the fourth shot making the blimp explode in a fireball. "This is incredible… This Jet Striker is incredible!" Trude exclaimed. "I win this one!" Trude exclaimed again, before Mio flew next to her, motioning for Shirley, along with the rest of the Witches who had all followed her, to do the same, who all complied.

"I wouldn't say that _just_ yet…" Mio said, as a third barrage blimp was raised.

"Is that for us?" Shirley and Trude asked at the same time.

"No, it's not for you." Mio said, grinning like a madwoman. "Yoshika, fire away!"

"On it!" Tri-Edge replied through the intercom, before what sounded like a cannon blast rang through the air, and the third blimp suddenly exploded in a huge fireball, even larger than Trude's.

"Yoshika, come on up and show them who the _real_ winner of this round is." Mio said.

"I'm already here." Tri-Edge said, flying directly behind all the Witches, making them turn around, only for their jaws to drop and for their eyes to widen to impossible proportions at the sight before them. Mio was still grinning.

Tri-Edge had two 13-inch shells strapped to the front of her chest, hanging vertically while pointing downward. There were six more 13-inch shells strapped to her Komet Striker Unit, three on each leg mount. But what _really_ got their attention were the two 13-inch guns that Tri-Edge was carrying in her hands, and the one in her left hand was smoking slightly. And she still had Empty Skies strapped to her back.

"I win!" Tri-Edge exclaimed, grinning.

"Yes, yes you did." Mio said, congratulating her.

'_Holy CRAP!' _All the other Witches, especially Trude and Shirley, thought at the same time.

* * *

In the hangar, Tri-Edge was grinning at the fact that she won three rounds in a row while eating her bowl of beef stew, while still wearing the Komet (Tri-Edge never takes it off, FYI).

"The Komet…" Ursula mumbled, but everyone was able to hear her. "It performed beyond all expectations that I had for it when I designed it myself. The maximum weight it was supposed to be able to carry safely was that of a car, but a _truck?_ Also, even if I never designed weapons to be used specifically for it, I never imagined that the Komet would be able to carry a 13-inch gun, let alone _two_ of them, including all that ammo. And Empty Skies as well."

"Yeah, but that's the Komet's absolute limit." Tri-Edge explained. "If I try to carry anymore, the Komet would fall apart, and there is _no way_ that I'm going to let that happen."

Mio nodded. "I was as shocked as you were when Yoshika told me the maximum amount of weight it could carry." Mio said.

"The Me 262 V1 was designed to be a lower-powered version of the Komet, if what I heard from R&D is correct." Ursula said, making the Witches (except Mio and Tri-Edge) go wide-eyed. "The Komet had a recorded top speed of 1137 km/h when one of the test Witches pumped all of her magic into it in one instant. Luckily for her, she had a parachute strapped to her back, something that is mandatory when testing out new Striker Units just in case something goes wrong. The Komet also just simply sucked out the magic of all of the test Witches too fast for it to be of any use except for point-defense, which would result in the Komet seeing little to no use. If what I heard is correct, the Me 262 V1 has a much longer endurance time than the Komet, but I don't think that they considered Tri-Edge's huge magical supply into the equation. So if Tri-Edge equips the Jet Striker, she would be able to last much longer than in the Komet." Ursula explained.

"**But you're also forgetting that the Komet has undergone "Magical Signature Lock-On", reducing the amount of magic needed to power it by 50%."** Empty Skies said, reminding Ursula about that as well.

"Yoshika, you will not participate in the next round." Mio said, much to the relief of the other Witches, especially Trude and Shirley. "Instead, you will be there just in case something goes wrong with the Jet Striker, am I clear?" Mio asked.

Tri-Edge nodded.

"Good." Mio replied.

Tri-Edge took an extra bowl of beef stew to Trude. "Here, you need to eat." Tri-Edge said, before noticing Trude's tired expression. "Are you tired?" Tri-Edge asked, worried.

"Can you leave that here?" Trude asked. "I need to rest for a bit."

* * *

The next morning, Trude and Shirley took off, with Tri-Edge following them, ready to catch either of them in case something goes wrong, but was sticking next to Trude. Lucchini flew next to them, holding a Romagna flag.

"Ready and…go!" Lucchini yelled while waving the flag and making Shirley shoot forward. But Trude stayed put, and Tri-Edge, who was pulled aside by Mio earlier and told to stick to Trude just in case something goes wrong with the Jet Striker, stayed with her. "Huh?" Lucchini asked, seeing Trude still there, along with Tri-Edge as well. "Barkhorn…go!" Lucchini yelled again. "I said "Go"!"

Trude, meanwhile, was charging her magic into the Jet Striker, preparing to put Shirley in her place. Suddenly, Trude's eyes snapped open, and released all that stored up magic into the Jet Striker, shooting her forward and blowing Lucchini away due to the force of the engines, all the while Tri-Edge easily managed to stick with Trude.

Shirley, hearing something, looked behind her, only to see Trude and Tri-Edge shoot past her.

'_Amazing…it's like being pushed by angels!'_ Trude thought, amazed at the Jet Striker's raw speed, but Tri-Edge was easily keeping up with her, ready to act incase anything went wrong.

Shirley was stupefied. "I…I'm actually losing in a race of speed…" Shirley said lowly, before noticing Trude spinning out of control. "What just happened?" Shirley asked.

Tri-Edge, as soon as Trude started spinning out of control, applied the same technique that she used for fishing, charging up the Komet with magical power and waiting for the perfect chance to catch Trude. As soon as Trude started an uncontrolled dive towards the sea, Tri-Edge released all that stored up magic in an instant, racing down and easily catching Trude. Looking at the Jet Striker, Tri-Edge found that it was no longer spewing out magic, which meant that Trude ran out of magic and had lost consciousness. Carefully leaning Trude over her shoulder, Tri-Edge returned to base, with Shirley and Lucchini following her.

* * *

In the infirmary the next day, Trude woke up to the sight of all the other Witches surrounding her.

"She's awake!" Erica noted.

"What's going on?" Trude asked weakly. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Trude! I'm glad you're okay!" Ursula said.

"You almost crashed into the sea, Trude." Erica said. "In fact, you would have if it wasn't for Tri-Edge saving you."

"What? I nearly crashed?" Trude asked.

"You depleted all your magic and passed out." Minna explained. "You don't remember?"

"That's impossible. I'd never make such a rookie mistake." Trude yelled.

"It's not your fault." Mio said.

"Yes," Ursula continued "most likely, the problem lies in the Jet Striker."

"I can't tell for sure, but it's possible it burns through a considerable amount of magic." Minna said.

"Prototypes and problems go hand in hand." Trude replied. "But that Striker is amazing. If we want to see it in actual combat, I must continue to test it."

"No." Minna said simply. "I won't let you risk your life. Captain Barkhorn, in addition to being restricted from flying, I am ordering you confined to your room."

"Minna!" Trude yelled.

Minna narrowed her eyes. "That's an order." Minna ordered.

Trude slumped back in defeat. "Understood." Trude answered.

"Use of the Jet Striker is disallowed, effective immediately." Minna ordered.

* * *

The next day, Trude was in her room, doing chin-ups with one arm while using a support beam for the exercise.

Lynne walked into the room, pushing a rolling tray with food on it as Ursula walked next to her. "U-Um, Barkhorn, what are you doing?" Lynne asked.

"Yes, what are you doing?" Ursula asked.

"I'm training." Trude answered. "I didn't nearly crash because of…the Jet Striker… It was because I wasn't…strong enough…" Trude said, still doing chin-ups with one arm.

"You still plan to use it?" Ursula asked.

"Of course. If I can master it, I can turn the whole tide of this war." Trude said.

"It's impossible. Give up on it." Shirley said, walking into the room and leaning on the doorway.

Trude stopped her chin-ups, and then resumed doing them. "Did you come to laugh at me, Liberion?" Trude asked harshly. "Nearly crashing because I ran out of magic… You'd think I was a private."

"Listen to the Captain. That Striker is way too dangerous. Next time, you won't just lose the ability to fly. I know you understand the military applications of the Jet Striker." Shirley said.

"It's worth the risk." Trude replied.

"So you don't care if you die?" Shirley asked/yelled.

"Huh?" Lynne asked in shock, while Ursula was silent.

"I must become stronger." Trude said as Erica walked into the room and listened to the conversation.

"You fool!" Shirley yelled.

Suddenly, the Neuroi alarm sounded.

"A Neuroi." Erica said, walking back out of the room. "I'm going on ahead."

Shirley also ran out of the room.

"Shirley, wait!" Lynne called, running after her.

"Lynne, wait! We were ordered to stay here, on standby." Ursula called, running after Lynne.

Trude stopped her chin-ups, and dropped to the floor. Suddenly, Erica sneaked up behind her and inserted something into Trude's left ear. "You forgot something!" Erica said, before running back to the hangar.

"A transponder?" Trude asked to herself.

* * *

With the Witches in the air, including Tri-Edge, the group moved in to intercept the Neuroi, which looked like a Saturn-V rocket. It was flying straight towards London.

* * *

"It's heading straight towards London." Minna said, looking at the radar screen in the control room as Ursula and Lynne stood behind her. "However, it's continuing to accelerate."

* * *

"I'm altering the intercept point." Minna said over the radio. "Head close to…"

"Unnecessary." Mio cut Minna off. "We've got a visual." Mio said, and then gasped as the Neuroi split apart.

Minna looked on the radar screen, and saw that the Neuroi split apart. "It split apart?" Minna asked in shock, earning surprised looks from Ursula and Lynne.

"So, it plans to overwhelm us with numbers." Mio concluded.

"It would seem so…" Tri-Edge said in a monotone, going into Battle Mode.

"Six of us and five of them…looks about even to me." Erica said.

"Everyone, spread out and destroy your targets." Mio ordered. "Do not let them past us!"

"Roger!" Lucchini, Perrine, Erica, and Shirley confirmed.

"Primary objective confirmed." Tri-Edge said. "Moving to intercept." Tri-Edge then took off towards the one that was in the middle.

Mio flew up to Shirley. "Shirley, the one Yoshika is going after has the Core. I need you to assist her in destroying it. Can you do that?" Mio asked.

"You can count on me." Shirley said.

All six witches were wildly weaving around, avoiding the laser beams that were being fired from the five Neuroi that were wildly flying around, blocking the lasers they couldn't dodge with their shields. The Witches (minus Tri-Edge, because she wasn't carrying a gun this time.) were firing at the Neuroi every chance they got, but the Neuroi easily dodged all of their shots.

The Neuroi that Tri-Edge and Shirley were chasing suddenly boosted straight up, making the two Witches follow them.

* * *

Back at the base in Trude's room, Trude was listening to the battle with her transponder. "You ain't getting away!" Trude heard Shirley yell.

* * *

Tri-Edge and Shirley were gaining on the Neuroi, and Shirley fired at it, but the Neuroi was much quicker than she thought, because it easily dodged all of her shots. "What?" Shirley asked in shock. The Neuroi flew down near the water, and then rocketed itself back up straight at Shirley and Tri-Edge. "Oh, you wanna do this?" Shirley asked. "Prepare to be destroyed!" Shirley yelled as she and Tri-Edge dived in on the Neuroi as it turned to the left while firing beams at the two, who both dodged them. Shirley opened fire again, and the Neuroi again easily dodged her shots. "Stay still!" Shirley yelled.

* * *

"Damn it…" Trude heard Shirley curse. Her resolve firmed as she clenched her hands into fists, and she took off running to the hangar.

* * *

In the control room, Minna, Ursula, and Lynne were still looking at the radar screen when Mio contacted them. "This is Sakamoto. Shirley and Yoshika have got their hands full, but we can't spare anyone to help. We need emergency backup!" Mio requested.

"Roger that." Minna responded, before turning to Ursula and Lynne. "Lynne! Ursula!" Minna said.

"Yes, ma'am!" Ursula and Lynne responded, already knowing what Minna was going to tell them.

* * *

In the hangar, Ursula and Lynne hopped into their Striker Units, and were about to take off, but Trude stood in their way. "Barkhorn!" Lynne exclaimed, surprised.

"You two will never make it in time." Trude said, walking over to the chained-down Me 262 V1. Grabbing the chains, Trude activated her magical ability, "Superhuman Strength", which gives her an immense increase in strength when activated. Easily ripping the chains off, Trude hopped into the Jet Striker and powered it up.

"You're breaking a direct order, Captain!" Lynne exclaimed.

"This is the only way we can save the two of them!" Trude replied, grabbing the 50mm cannon and taking off, hoping to arrive there in time to save them.

"Trude!" Minna said over the intercom.

"I'm sorry, Minna." Trude apologized. "I'll take my punishment later. But now I must…"

"Five minutes!" Minna replied, making Trude's eyes widen. "You have five minutes of flight!"

Trude grinned. "Five minutes is plenty!" Trude exclaimed, boosting towards the fight, hoping to save Shirley and Tri-Edge.

Unfortunately, tragedy will strike before she gets there.

* * *

The Neuroi Shirley and Tri-Edge were fighting made another sharp turn, and Shirley was able to get it in her sights. "There!" Shirley yelled, pulling the trigger. But to her horror, her gun jammed.

The Neuroi, sensing her plight, suddenly split itself again and ordered the other four Neuroi to trap Shirley and fire all at once, something that the Neuroi were easily able to do.

Tri-Edge, seeing the (now) six Neuroi circling Shirley, snapped out of Battle Mode and boosted herself towards her. "Shirley, look out!" Tri-Edge yelled, pushing Shirley out of the way right as the six Neuroi fired.

Tri-Edge was able to dodge all but two of the beams, both of which severely damaged the Komet. Tri-Edge tumbled out of control from the sky, struggling to right herself.

Mio looked on in horror. "YOSHIKA!" Mio screamed.

The first four Neuroi went back to engaging Mio, Perrine, Lucchini, and Erica, while the fifth Neuroi went after Shirley, who managed to get her gun unjammed. But the sixth, the one that held the Core, went after Tri-Edge, intending on finishing her off as the other five Witches looked on in horror.

Tri-Edge, the one who became an avenger to avenge her father's murder.

Tri-Edge, the Witch who took down an entire armada of three hundred Neuroi.

Tri-Edge, the so-called "Invincible Witch."

Tri-Edge, the one who was defeated by the joint efforts of the 31st JFS and the 501st JFW.

Tri-Edge, who had become Mio's adoptive little sister.

Tri-Edge, who had become an important part in their lives.

Tri-Edge, whom they have all come to know and love.

Was about to die.

And there was nothing they could do about it.

Suddenly, three cannon shots rang out, the first two destroying the body of the Neuroi that was going after Tri-Edge, revealing the single Core of all six Neuroi, while the third shot destroyed it, making all six Neuroi shatter. Tri-Edge, by now, was able to recover, but had difficulties flying with the Komet heavily damaged. All six Witches looked to see who had fired the shots, only to find Trude flying in wearing the Jet Striker, supporting Tri-Edge who was starting to lose power to the Komet.

"Tri-Edge, shut down your Striker Unit. I'll carry you back to base." Trude said, as she looked over to the rest of the Witches. "After this, I'm switching back to my old Striker Unit. If anyone can make good use of the Jet Striker, it's Tri-Edge." Trude explained, before flying back to base, with the other Witches following her.

* * *

That evening, all of the Witches were in the hangar, while Mio was hugging Tri-Edge tightly, making sure that she was still there.

"Yoshika, please don't scare me like that again!" Mio pleaded, tears in her eyes. "I thought you were going to die."

Tri-Edge hugged her adoptive big sister back, before taking off the remains of the Komet. "The Komet…the only thing left intact are the magical rocket engines." Tri-Edge said, a sad look on her face while gazing at the remains of the rocket-powered Striker Unit that she cherished for so long. "The only thing I can save are the engines, the rest is damaged beyond repair. But standard Striker Units can't handle the power of the rocket engines, so what can I…" Tri-Edge pondered on what to do with the magical rocket engines, before her eyes widened, getting an idea.

Trude walked up to her. "Tri-Edge, I'm switching back to my old Striker Unit. I want you to have the Jet Striker." Trude said, much to the shock of the other Witches. "If anybody can use the Jet Striker to its' fullest potential, it's you." Trude said.

"Thank you, Trude." Tri-Edge said. "Because I just got an idea. Now, can all of you please go to your rooms and get some sleep? I will show you the finished result in the morning." Tri-Edge requested.

Mio nodded. "Very well, little sister." Mio said, and then turned to the rest of the Witches. "You are all ordered to go to sleep!" Mio ordered.

Trude smiled. "For once, I'll gladly follow that specific order." Trude said, walking off to her room to get some sleep. The other Witches followed suit.

Tri-Edge, after seeing that the other Witches have gone to sleep, took out Empty Skies and made a few surgical cuts into the bottoms of the Jet Striker. "Now, let's get to work." Tri-Edge said, pulling up a toolbox next to her.

* * *

The next morning, all the Witches were woken up by the roar of both magical rocket engines and magical jet engines. Wondering what was going on all the Witches walked into the hangar, only to see the results of Tri-Edge's overnight modifications.

The Striker Unit that Tri-Edge was wearing was the Jet Striker all right, but at the bottoms of the leg mounts, a single familiar rocket nozzle can be seen.

"Tri-Edge…is that…" Ursula asked, not believing her eyes.

"It is." Tri-Edge answered tiredly. "This is the result of installing the rocket engines from the Komet onto the Jet Striker. A new kind of Striker Unit. I call it, the Me 425 Komet Mk. II, and it's the first ever Jet-Rocket Striker hybrid in existence. I will take it on a test flight tomorrow, because I _really_ need to get some sleep." Tri-Edge explained, walking to her room that she shared with Mio and slipped underneath the covers and fell asleep with a small smile on her face, all the while she still wore the Komet MK. II and still had Empty Skies strapped to her back.


	8. Chapter 8

**Driven by Revenge, Tri-Edge**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 8: Magical Power Overload**

* * *

It has been two weeks since Tri-Edge created her new Striker Unit, the Me 425 Komet Mk. II. During that time, three more Neuroi have shown up, but they were quickly dispatched. Over the course of those two weeks, Tri-Edge tested her newly completed Komet Mk. II, which had a top speed of Mach 1.6 due to the two engine types, much to Shirley's dismay.

* * *

At the Strike Witches' base in Dover, Tri-Edge woke up and looked to her left, seeing that Mio was absent. However, instead of panicking at the absence of her "Big Sister", Tri-Edge simply climbed out of bed, being careful about it since she was wearing the Komet Mk. II. Yawning tiredly, Tri-Edge decided to look around the base for Mio, knowing that she was training.

* * *

Walking out to the base's runway, Tri-Edge found Mio at the end of the runway, holding her sword straight up. Looking closer, Tri-Edge notice that there was a light blue glow around the sword.

Mio swung the sword down while shouting, "Reppuzan!" Mio unleashed a tiny energy wave from the sword into the sea, causing the sea to split before the energy wave dissipated after traveling for only a mere ten meters.

Tri-Edge walked up to her. "If you want, I could help teach you the Reppuzan…" Tri-Edge offered, getting Mio's attention.

"That would be appreciated." Mio responded.

Tri-Edge walked next to her big sister-figure, drew her twin swords, Empty Skies, and spent the rest of the early morning teaching Mio how to perform the Reppuzan.

* * *

At the dining hall, the rest of the Witches were eating their breakfast when Mio and Tri-Edge walked in.

"Oh, Tri-Edge. Major Sakamoto. You're both late." Shirley said from the kitchen, with Lucchini next to her.

Mio nodded, and both she and Tri-Edge grabbed a plate of food and started eating.

* * *

Later that day, Lynne, Tri-Edge and Perrine went up into the air on a training exercise. Tri-Edge and Perrine were armed with paintball guns, while Lynne was holding a whistle, since she was the referee for this exercise.

Tri-Edge, using the raw power of the jet and rocket engines of the Komet Mk. II, accelerated far faster than Perrine could ever hope to achieve.

Perrine's eyes widened. _'She fast… Far faster than when she had the regular Komet…'_ Perrine thought in shock. That was when Tri-Edge looped around, already on Perrine's tail. Perrine was shocked. "She's already behind me?!"

Tri-Edge smirked. "Gotcha!" she exclaimed. But right before she pulled the trigger, the rocket engines of the Komet Mk. II sputtered, throwing off her aim as she pulled the trigger.

Perrine looked behind her to see Tri-Edge's shots had missed her completely. _'She missed from such close range?'_ Perrine thought to herself in shock, but shook it off and rolled to the right, quickly getting behind Tri-Edge, who was distracted as she looked at the sputtering rocket engines. "You're mine." Perrine called, before pulling the trigger. All her shots hit Tri-Edge's Rocket/Jet hybrid Striker Unit, splattering it with orange paint as the paintballs hit their target.

Lynne blew the whistle. "The match is over. Perrine is the winner." Lynne said.

Perrine crossed her arms, a smug look on her fac. "B-But of course. She never stood a chance." Perrine boasted.

Tri-Edge got a tick mark on her forehead and was shaking in anger.

'_**Calm yourself, Tri-Edge.'**_ Empty Skies said through the mental link. _**'This is a training exercise, not an all-out death-match.'**_

Tri-Edge calmed down at Empty Skies' words. _'…Yeah, you're right…'_ Tri-Edge responded through the mental link. She then looked down at her Striker Unit. _'That's strange. It's like, all of a sudden, I lost power to the rocket engines…'_ Tri-Edge thought to herself.

Perrine and Tri-Edge then started round two.

But this round had the same results as the last one; the rocket engines kept sputtering, causing Tri-Edge to keep missing Perrine when she fires at her, and is making her have a difficult time flying.

Perrine once again took advantage of this, and splattered Tri-Edge's Komet Mk. II with orange paint.

The two then went into a third round, which wielded similar results as the last two.

Tri-Edge was panting. _'What's going on? I'm having trouble flying.'_ Tri-Edge thought.

"It's not like her to lose three matches in a row." Lynne said to herself.

"Tri-Edge, don't hold back just because this is training." Perrine scolded. "Or am I too weak for you to go 100%?" she asked, thinking that Tri-Edge was holding back.

"I wasn't holding back!" Tri-Edge yelled before flying back to base, with Perrine and Lynne following her.

On the way back to the base, Perrine and Lynne both noticed that Tri-Edge was having a difficult time trying to fly straight.

Perrine's eyes widened at the sight. _'Why is she having such a hard time flying? Is that why I was able to nail her so easily?'_ Perrine thought to herself.

'_What's wrong with Tri-Edge?'_ Lynne thought to herself.

Right before the three Witches landed, the jet engines of the Komet Mk. II also started sputtering, getting a concerned look from Mio, who saw everything that happened during the training exercise.

* * *

"I see. So you noticed it too, Perrine." Mio said to Perrine after the training exercise.

"Yes." Perrine answered. "Something was strange in the way she was moving today. She wasn't her usual self."

"I saw what happened." Mio said. "The rocket engines of the Komet Mk. II were sputtering during the training exercise." Perrine's eyes widened at that. "And right before the three of you landed, the jet engines started sputtering as well. I'm having Ursula take a look at the Komet Mk. II. I was able to convince Yoshika to take off her Striker Unit, but she bolted right for the room we share immediately after she took it off."

Perrine sighed. "It looks like she has a long way to go before she will be comfortable walking around without her Striker Unit on all the time…"

Mio smiled. "I appreciate it for you bringing this to my attention, and for you looking out for the well-being of my little sister."

Perrine smiled as well. "She can really grow on you, can't she?"

* * *

Mio walked over to Ursula, who was checking on the Komet Mk. II. "Have you found the problem?" Mio asked.

"I crosschecked everything, and I think I found the problem." Ursula answered. "The jet and rocket engines of the Komet Mk. II…are conflicting with each other."

Mio's visible eye widened in surprise. "What do you mean?" Mio asked.

"Since both the Komet and the Me 262 were prototype Striker Units, they were imperfect, and the engines are conflicting with each other. As a result, magic distribution becomes unstable during use, and there is also some wear and tear on the engines, both jet and rocket. But I don't know how the wear and tear formed." Ursula explained, frowning at the problem.

Mio also frowned. "That _is_ concerning. I will take Yoshika in for a checkup." Mio said, before walking out of the hangar to fetch Tri-Edge for a medical checkup, leaving Ursula to continue her work on the Komet Mk. II.

* * *

Mio walked into the room that she and Tri-Edge shares, only to see Tri-Edge curled up in a blanket on the bed while shivering in slight fear.

Mio sighed, knowing that Tri-Edge was scared. "Yoshika, we need to take you in for a checkup." Mio said.

Tri-Edge shook her head.

That was when Mio walked up to her shivering form that was on the bed. "Look. I know that you feel insecure without your Striker Unit, but you can trust me. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise. You can even take Empty Skies with you if that will help."

Tri-Edge looked at Mio for a few seconds, before hesitantly nodding her head and grabbing her twin swords that were in their sheathes, strapping them to her back as she got out of the bed.

Mio smiled; it was slow going, but Tri-Edge was definitely on the road to feeling more secure without having her Striker Unit on her at all times.

* * *

Tri-Edge was stripped down as a nurse checked on her health, while Mio was standing next to her so she would feel more secure.

The nurse took off her stethoscope. "Done. You can put your clothes back on now." The nurse said.

Tri-Edge quickly put her clothes back on.

The nurse looked at her chart. "She gets a clean bill of health from me."

"I see." Mio replied.

Tri-Edge finished putting her clothes back on. "Big sister, why did you want me to undergo a physical, all of a sudden?" Tri-Edge asked, getting a raised eyebrow from the nurse.

"No reason." Mio answered. "It's our responsibility, as your superiors, to check on our troops' health from time to time."

Tri-Edge turned to the nurse. "But you said that there's nothing wrong with me, right?" Tri-Edge asked.

The nurse nodded. "That's correct. You're in excellent health. We should all be so lucky."

Tri-Edge laughed nervously. "Actually, one of the things I'm really proud of is that I've never even had a cold."

Mio then sensed two Witches that were hiding nearby. Turning to where she sensed them, Mio asked, "Hey. What are you two doing there?"

Perrine and Lynne came out of hiding. "S-Sorry…" the two apologized.

Tri-Edge perked up at the sight of the two Witches. "Oh, Lynne, Perrine!"

"Is something wrong with you, Tri-Edge?" Lynne asked.

Tri-Edge smiled. "Nope. It was just a physical. I'm totally fine."

Lynne breathed a relieved sigh. "Oh, thank god!"

Perrine sighed. "My goodness. It's very important for Witches to take care of themselves!"

Tri-Edge laughed. "Like I said, I'm totally fine."

A new voice interrupted. "But that makes it all the more odd."

The Witches present were surprised, and they all turned to the speaker. "Barkhorn… when did you get here?" Mio asked.

Trude ignored her. "I verified that you're having trouble flying. Until we get to the root of the problem, I cannot send you into battle."

Lynne was surprised at that statement. "Is that true, Tri-Edge?" Lynne asked. "You're having problems flying?"

Tri-Edge looked down sadly, and nodded.

"I'm ordering you grounded on base, until we know what's disabling you." Trude ordered.

Tri-Edge looked up at Trude quickly, a surprised look on her face. "No! I swear I can fly!"

"That was an order from a superior officer." Trude said sternly.

Mio nodded. "Yeah. I think it's for the best."

"No way! You can't, big sis!" Tri-Edge exclaimed.

"Tri-Edge…" Lynne said, worried.

Tri-Edge looked down sadly.

* * *

That night, Tri-Edge sneaked out of the room she shared with Mio and into the hangar with a broom, remembering an old training technique that she observed from an old Witch who used brooms to fly.

Sitting on the broom, Tri-Edge started using her magic in an attempt to get the broom to fly, but then someone walked into the hangar. "Who's that?" a voice asked.

Tri-Edge lost her focus, and looked at the speaker, seeing that it was Eila.

"That's Tri-Edge." Sanya answered, who was standing next to Eila.

"What are you doing here?" Eila asked.

_Two Minutes Later…_

"Oh, training on a broom?" Eila asked. "Actually, an old lady in my neighborhood flew on a broom, too."

"But why are you training so late at night?" Sanya asked.

Tri-Edge asked a question of her own. "Hey, has either of you ever become suddenly unable to fly?"

"You're not able to fly, Tri-Edge?" Sanya asked, much to Eila's shock.

"Huh? Is that true, Tri-Edge?" Eila asked, shocked.

"Oh, no. I can still fly…" Tri-Edge quickly denied.

Eila sighed. "Geez. Don't scare me like that."

Suddenly, a sound rang throughout the hangar, getting the attention of the three.

"Who is it?!" Eila asked/yelled, grabbing a bucket and throwing it at the source of the sound.

Apparently, the bucket nearly hit someone. "Hey! Watch where you throw that thing!" a voice yelled, before Perrine's head became visible. "What do you think you're doing?!" Perrine asked/yelled.

"Perrine!" Tri-Edge exclaimed.

"What are you doing here, Perrine?" Sanya asked.

"I-I'm not doing anything… just going to the bathroom." Perrine said, thinking up an excuse quickly.

Eila internally scoffed. _'Yeah, right. She was most likely spying on us.'_

"But still, why can't I fly?" Tri-Edge asked to herself, but the others heard her.

"It's probably best if you rest a bit." Sanya offered.

"Yeah." Eila nodded in agreement. "I bet you've worked your body too hard lately. I bet everything will be fine, once you get a god night's sleep. Just go to bed."

Tri-Edge nodded. "Yeah… I guess you're right." She then walked out of the hangar and went back to the room she and Mio shared. Slipping under the covers, Tri-Edge went to sleep, hoping that Eila was right.

* * *

Early the next morning, Tri-Edge woke up, and sneaked out of the room with a broom after making sure Mio was still asleep.

Unknown to her, Mio was wide awake, and was only pretending to be asleep.

After Tri-Edge left the room, Mio opened her eyes. After getting dressed and putting on her eye patch, Mio left the room as well, silently following her little sister-figure from a distance. _'Now…let's see what she's up to…'_ Mio thought to herself.

Tri-Edge walked to the beach that was at the base, and sat on the broom she was carrying. Pumping her magic into the broom, she started to slowly float up. But then, the broom's bristles rolled up into a ball, and promptly burst out, causing Tri-Edge to drop two inches back to the ground, where she collapsed into sobs.

"This can't be… why… why can't I fly?" Tri-Edge asked to herself.

Off in the distance, Mio was watching Tri-Edge using her Magic Eye. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw Tri-Edge bust the broom. _'How the hell do you bust the broom?'_ Mio thought to herself. Mio walked off, intending on making a call to her old teacher.

* * *

Mio walked into the office that was on the base, seeing Minna working on filling out a report. Mina looked up, seeing Mio walk in. "Mio, what can I do for you?" Minna asked.

"I need to call my old teacher and ask her about something." Mio replied, picking up the phone and dialed the number of her old teacher. After ringing for a few seconds, her old teacher picked up. "Hello? Anna, are you there? This is Mio. I have a question for you."

"_What is it?"_ Anna's voice asked.

"What does it mean when the bristles on the broom burst? I have a… student, whom I have been training and this happened to her." Mio said.

"_The broom broke, then? Then that only means that your student has too much magical power for the broom to handle."_ Anna replied.

Mio's eyes widened at the answer. "Thank you." Mio replied, before hanging up.

Minna looked at her. "What was that about?" Minna asked.

"I think… I think I just figured out Yoshika's problem…" Mio trailed off, before leaving the room.

* * *

Later that day, all the Witches were in the meeting room.

"Central command dispatched a radio message that in order to strengthen our presence here in Britannia, the Fuso fleet and its flagship, the battleship _Yamato_ which is on its maiden voyage, will arrive tomorrow. The carrier _Akagi_ is also with the fleet." Minna explained.

"So, they finally completed the _Yamato_, huh?" Mio asked.

"Yes, this will be the _Yamato_'s combat debut." Minna answered.

"What's the _Yamato_?" Tri-Edge asked.

"The _Yamato_ is Fuso's most advanced battleship which has just been completed." Mio answered.

That was when the phone that was in the room rang. Minna picked it up. "Lieutenant Colonel Wilcke speaking." Minna answered.

Everyone else wondered who was calling.

Minna's eyes widened in shock. "What? The _Yamato_ was in an accident?!"

All the Witches had shocked looks on their faces. "What?!" Mio exclaimed.

Minna listened to the caller some more. "All right. Understood." Minna then hung up. "That was an emergency request. Earlier, there was a small explosion in the _Yamato_'s sickbay. A few people were injured in the blast. They want us to dispatch a medic immediately."

"All right." Mio replied. "We just got a type-2 large flying boat the other day, so I guess it's time to put it to use."

Tri-Edge made up her mind, and stood up from her chair. "Please let me go! I might not be able to fight, and I may not be an excellent medic, but I do know some healing magic!"

Lynne also stood up from her chair. "I'm going, too! I can put bandages on people."

"You two…" Minna mused.

Perrine smiled. "Somehow, I knew they'd say that."

Trude smirked, agreeing with Perrine, while Erica also agreed with her.

"They would arrive much earlier than the flying boat." Mio said.

Minna nodded. "All right. Tri-Edge, Lynne, head to the _Yamato_ at once." Minna ordered.

"Roger!" Lynne responded, while Tri-Edge nodded.

* * *

Tri-Edge and Lynne were flying as fast as they could to the _Yamato_. Well, Lynne was flying as fast as she could, but Tri-Edge was hanging back on the speed, because right before she left, Mio ordered her to stick to Lynne during the flight.

The jet and rocket engines on the Komet Mk. II started sputtering again, but this time it was worse. Tri-Edge was having an even more difficult time flying than last time.

Lynne noticed Tri-Edge's predicament. "Are you all right, Tri-Edge?" Lynne asked.

"Y-Yeah…" Tri-Edge responded. But internally, her mind was racing. _'What should I do? I'm having trouble flying, and it's getting worse.'_

"Look there!" Lynne exclaimed, pointing down.

Tri-Edge looked down, seeing the Fuso fleet, along with a _huge_ ship in the middle of it. "That huge ship is the _Yamato_?!" Tri-Edge exclaimed.

"I think it is." Lynne replied. "Let's go." Lynne then flew down to the _Yamato_, with Tri-Edge following her.

* * *

Once the two landed in the hangar, Tri-Edge and Lynne hopped out of their Striker Units; the only reason Tri-Edge hopped out of hers is because she knows that time is of the essence, and wearing the Komet Mk. II would only waste time. So, to feel safe, she made sure that Empty Skies was strapped to her back, and stayed close to Lynne as the two ran to the sickbay on the ship.

Reaching the sickbay, Lynne opened the door, only to see several injured people whose wounds were already bandaged.

A man noticed them enter the room. "Are you Tri-Edge and Lynne?" the man asked.

"Yes, we are." Lynne answered.

"This man sustained the worst injuries." The man said, looking at a patient who had his stomach wrapped in bandages, but the wound was still bleeding badly. "With the equipment here, we can't do anything more for him."

"Such horrible injuries…" Lynne trailed of, before Tri-Edge activate the healing spell that she knew and placed her hands onto the man's wound. Three seconds later, because of Tri-Edge's huge amount of magical power, the bleeding stopped.

"The bleeding stopped!" the man exclaimed.

Tri-Edge, after seeing that the man's bleeding had stopped, cancelled her healing spell. "Okay. Bandage him up, Lynne." Tri-Edge said.

"Okay!" Lynne replied, before she started bandaging the man up.

"Who's next?" Tri-Edge asked.

_Fifteen Minutes Later…_

Tri-Edge had just healing the last patient. "Where's the next person?" Tri-Edge asked.

"There isn't one." The man replied. "This is the last casualty."

"The last one…" Lynne trailed off.

"Yes. Thanks to your help, everyone is going to be okay." The man said. "I cannot thank you enough."

"Isn't that great, Tri-Edge?" Lynne asked.

* * *

Up on the _Yamato_'s bridge, the ship's Captain heard the news. "I see. So they're all recovering." The Captain said.

"After an accident of that proportion, it's a downright miracle." A Lieutenant replied.

"We will have to find a way to thank her, then." The Captain said.

Suddenly, an alarm rang through the bridge, getting their attention.

"It's a report from the radio room!" a crewmember replied. "A Neuroi has been detected at 340 degrees, 60,000 units out!"

"That's impossible. These are supposed to be safe waters." The Captain replied.

The Lieutenant from earlier walked up to him. "Captain." The Lieutenant said.

The Captain gritted his teeth as he gave the order. "All ships, prepare for battle!" the Captain ordered.

* * *

In the sickbay, Lynne and Tri-Edge heard the alarm that was ringing throughout the ship.

"A Neuroi?" Lynne exclaimed.

"Let's go, Lynne!" Tri-Edge exclaimed.

Lynne nodded, and the two of them ran off to the hangar where their Strikers were being stored.

* * *

At the base in Dover, Minna, Mio, Ursula, and Erica were in the control room. Minna narrowed her eyes as she looked at the radar screen. "Neuroi spotted." Minna said.

Where is it?" Mio asked.

"Grid D-15. Moving at 165 degrees." Erica replied, also looking at the radar screen.

Ursula's eyes widened. "Hold on… that puts it in the vicinity of…"

Mio's visible eye also widened, getting at what Ursula was saying. "The _Yamato_!" Mio yelled, worried.

"This can't be!" Minna replied. "They're more than 150 km from Gallia, the location of the Neuroi den."

"Yeah. They've never strayed that far away before." Mio said.

"But now they have." Erica said, before looking at the radar screen. "Look, it's heading for the Fuso fleet."

Mio gritted her teeth. "Damn it." Mio cursed, before rushing over to the radio. "Yoshika, you are forbidden from taking off! The other Witches and I are coming!" Mio yelled, taking the other Witches by surprise. Mio looked at them. "Don't just stand there! Come on; we have to go!" Mio yelled, before rushing off to the hangar, making a quick stop in her room to get her sword.

Min looked at Erica and Ursula. "Gather up Trude, Perrine, Shirley and Lucchini, now! We need to get up in the air ASAP!" Minna ordered.

The Hartmann twins nodded, and rushed off to gather the four Witches that Minna specified.

* * *

At the Fuso fleet, the carriers and the _Akagi_ were launching all their fighters to combat the Neuroi that was rapidly approaching.

The Neuroi, which looked like a blimp with a rotating center, fired several beams, shooting down at least thirty Zero's. The remaining Zero's opened fire on the Neuroi, hoping to avenge their fallen comrades, but all their shots only glanced off the extremely thick armor. The Neuroi, meanwhile, just shot down the Zero's that were merely annoying it.

"All ships, prepare for anti-air assault." The Captain ordered. "Ready the main cannons!"

"Cannons readied!" a crewmember yelled.

"Aiming seventy degrees right, 3-0-0!" a different crewmember yelled.

"Take her starboard!" the Captain ordered.

"Starboard ho!" the crewmember at the wheel called, turning the wheel to the right, making the _Yamato_ turn to the right. Right then, a beam sliced through the ocean right behind the _Yamato_, shooting down several more Zero's.

"God damn Neuroi…" the Captain cursed. "You're about to find out what the _Yamato_'s forty-six centimeter cannons taste like."

"Distance, 2-5-0!" a crewmember yelled.

"Ready to fire!" a different crewmember called out.

"Commence attack!" the Captain ordered.

Right then, the _Yamato_'s forty-six centimeter cannons opened fire, shaking the whole ship. The shells all hit the Neuroi.

"Did you see that? That's the _Yamato_'s power." The Captain said, looking through a pair of binoculars at the Neuroi.

"Ready the next round!" a crewmember yelled.

* * *

Lynne and Tri-Edge were knocked off their feet due to the main cannons firing. "Are you okay, Lynne?" Tri-Edge asked.

"Yeah. What was that sound?" Lynne asked.

"It was so loud… can you stand?" Tri-Edge asked.

Lynne nodded. "Yeah."

"Let's go!" Tri-Edge said, before she and Lynne resumed running to the hangar.

* * *

"Up two! Right two!" a crewmember shouted. "Load heavy artillery!"

At that moment, a beam sliced through the water right next to the _Yamato_, sending up a huge wave that rocked the ship.

"Damn… what incredible force…" the Captain yelled.

Right after the shaking stopped, the _Yamato_'s main cannons fired at the Neuroi again, which again all the shells hit their target.

"Did we get it?" the Captain asked.

The Neuroi quickly regenerated, before firing a beam that slice through a destroyer. "The _Takao_ was hit!" a crewmember yelled.

"Damn it…" the Captain cursed. "They regenerate too fast for us."

* * *

Lynne and Tri-Edge arrived into the hangar, and Lynne hopped into her Striker Unit. But right before Tri-Edge hopped into hers, Mio's voice came through the intercom that was in her ear. _"Yoshika, you are forbidden from taking off! The other Witches and I are coming!"_ Mio yelled.

"But…" Tri-Edge tried to deny Mio's request, but Mio had already cut off the link.

Lynne smiled; she heard what Mio had said, and it was obvious that Mio was concerned about Tri-Edge's supposed "failing" magic. "Don't worry about me, Tri-Edge. Just listen to your sister. I will go on ahead and distract it until the others arrive." Lynne said, before taking off.

"Lynne, come back!" Tri-Edge called, but it was no use. "Lynne…"

* * *

"This is bad. The _Takao_'s been rendered immobile." The Captain said, looking at the damaged _Takao_ through a pair of binoculars.

"It's a sitting duck out there." a Lieutenant replied, watching the Neuroi turn around and fire a beam that trailed right at the _Takao_. "Damn. They're going to sink it!"

But at the last possible moment, Lynne blocked the beam.

"Lynette!" the Captain exclaimed, seeing Lynne block the beam that would have sunk the _Takao_.

"_Can you all hear me?"_ Lynne's voice cracked through the radios of all the ships. _"Retreat while I block their attack!"_

Tri-Edge was on the deck of the _Yamato_, listening to what Lynne was saying. "What are you saying, Lynne?"

"_I can only buy you a little time!"_ Lynne's voice continued. _"Hurry and retreat!"_

The Captain looked down. "Our presence is crucial to the war effort here. We cannot afford to lose the _Yamato_ today. All ships, full speed to port!" the Captain ordered solemnly.

"Full speed to port!" a crewmember repeated the order.

Tri-Edge saw Lynne block two more beams. "Lynne!" she called worriedly. She then made up her mind. "Screw it! I don't care if big sister Mio told me to not fly! Lynne needs my help!" Tri-Edge yelled, before running back to the hangar.

Lynne blocked several more beams, before looking over her shoulder to see that the Fuso fleet was retreating.

"Thank god." Lynne said, relieved. She then aimed her anti-tank rifle at the Neuroi and fired. But to her immense shock, her shot only glanced off its' extremely thick armor. "It's not working!" Lynne yelled, before she had to throw up her shield to block a barrage of beams.

* * *

"_The fleet changed direction."_ Minna's voice called to the Witches as they took off. _"They're heading away from the Neuroi."_

"They were able to retreat? How'd they manage that?" Mio asked.

"_It looks like Lynne is shielding them."_ Minna's voice answered.

"What?!" Perrine asked/yelled.

That was when the airborne Witches heard Tri-Edge's voice. _"Screw it! I don't care if big sister Mio told me to not fly! Lynne needs my help!"_

Mio's eyes widened. "We have to get there, ASAP!" Mio yelled, before she and the rest of the airborne Witches, which consisted of Trude, Erica, Ursula, Shirley, Lucchini and Perrine, poured on the magic and flew as fast as their Striker Units will allow them to, hoping to get there before Tri-Edge did something foolish. _'Yoshika… why won't you listen to me? I know that you want to protect Lynne, but you're only going to get yourself killed. I won't let that happen. Not if I can help it!'_

* * *

Tri-Edge ran up to the Komet Mk. II and jumped in, pumping her magic into it. The Komet Mk. II started up, but the jet and rocket engines were sputtering. "Please… I need you here! I have to save Lynne! So please… let me fly!" Tri-Edge pleaded.

To her immense shock, it seemed as though the Striker Unit heard her request, as the jet and rocket engines roared to life one last time.

Tri-Edge smiled. "Thank you… Komet Mk. II." With that, she took off from the hangar.

* * *

"Distance from Neuroi, about three leagues." A Lieutenant reported, looking at the Neuroi through a pair of binoculars.

"We're out of their strike range." A crewmember reported.

"I see." The Captain said. "Even if we defended the _Yamato_, we left a Witch alone on the front line. As a soldier of the Fuso Imperial Military, I feel deeply ashamed." The Captain finished sadly.

The Lieutenant from earlier looked down, and saw Tri-Edge take off. "Wait, another Witch has taken off from the hangar!" he exclaimed.

The Captain looked surprised. "What?!"

* * *

Tri-Edge roared through the air right above the waves, rapidly closing in on Lynne's position. Looking ahead of her, she could just see Lynne getting weaker from the Neuroi's assault. "Lynne…" Tri-Edge said worriedly, but kept her focus; she couldn't afford to falter here.

* * *

Lynne dodged another barrage of beams fired at her and lined up a shot with her anti-tank rifle. But right before she could fire, she threw up her shield to block another beam.

At this point, Lynne was close to passing out. _'I wonder if Tri-Edge and the navy men escaped safely…'_ Lynne thought, before she faltered for a few seconds. She was barely able to regain control and resume hovering.

The Neuroi descended upon her, preparing to finish her off.

"My shield is weakening…" Lynne said to herself.

The Neuroi then fired a barrage of beams.

Lynne, knowing that her shield couldn't handle any more beams, braced herself for death.

But right before the beams could hit their mark, a _huge_ shield blocked them.

Tri-Edge flew up next to Lynne. "Lynne! Are you all right?" she asked worriedly.

"Y…Yeah… I'm fine…" Lynne replied weakly; she was on the verge of passing out.

Tri-Edge turned to face the Neuroi, a look of raw _fury_ on her face. "How dare you… how dare you attack Lynne!" Tri-Edge screamed, easily blocking another barrage of beams. She then drew her twin swords, unfolded them, and held them over her head to where the tips of the central blades were touching.

With a war cry, Tri-Edge charged right at the Neuroi, breaking the sound barrier as she started spinning like a drill at an extremely high speed, piercing straight through the very front of it. She continued to drill through the Neuroi, and eventually plowed straight through the Core, destroying it. Tri-Edge managed to drill herself out from the other side of the Neuroi, when it gave out one last screech before it shattered into white fragments.

Tri-Edge flew back to Lynne. "It's all right now, Lynne. The Neuroi is gone." She said.

Lynne weakly nodded her head.

At that point, the jet and rocket engines of the Komet Mk. II all flamed out, refusing to reactivate.

Lynne's eyes widened. "Tri-Edge…!"

Tri-Edge smiled, panting in exhaustion. "As long as you're all right… then I don't care…" she said, before she dropped out of the sky, unconscious.

That was when Mio screamed in, with her Striker Unit at war emergency power. "YOSHIKA, NO!" Mio screamed, diving down to catch her little sister-figure. After a few seconds, Mio caught her. "Damnnit, Yoshika! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" Mio yelled, tears streaming down her eyes.

Lynne smiled, seeing that Tri-Edge was going to be all right, before she passed out as well, dropping out of the sky.

Luckily, Shirley screamed in, her Striker Unit also at war emergency power, and caught Lynne before she fell into the ocean.

Trude flew up next to Mio while looking at Tri-Edge. "She's got guts, I'll give her that much. But disobeying a direct order from a superior…"

"Yeah, but if she didn't, then Lynne would have been dead right now." Lucchini pointed out.

"At least those two are all right. Thank goodness!" Perrine breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's head back, then." Ursula said, and she and the rest of the Witches also flew back to base, with Shirley carrying Lynne, and Mio carrying Tri-Edge while tears still streamed down her face; she had nearly lost Tri-Edge a second time, and Mio would never be able to forgive herself if she lost Tri-Edge.

* * *

That evening, Tri-Edge woke up, finding herself in the medical room with all the other Witches (including Lynne, who had woken up an hour earlier) hovering over her.

"She's awake!" Perrine noted.

"Tri-Edge, thank goodness that you woke up!" Trude exclaimed, going into what Erica likes to call "Siscon Mode".

"Tri-Edge… thank goodness…!" Lynne said, sighing in relief.

"Wh… what happened…?" Tri-Edge asked weakly.

"You nearly died, that's what!" Mio scolded.

"Big sis…I'm sorry." Tri-Edge apologized. "But I couldn't let Lynne die out there…"

Mio then got tears in her eyes as she hugged Tri-Edge. "I know, but still… I nearly lost you…" Mio said between her sobs.

Tri-Edge hugged her back. "…I won't die… that's a promise…" That was when she noticed that she wasn't wearing the Komet Mk. II. "…Where's the Komet Mk. II?" she asked, getting out of the bed and strapping Empty Skies to her back, looking around anxiously for her Striker Unit.

"It's in the hangar. We were about to go see what the problem was." Ursula replied, leading all the Witches out of the medical room, with Tri-Edge following them.

* * *

In the hangar, Ursula led the group over to the rack that held the Komet Mk. II. She then opened up the maintenance hatches for the jet and rocket engines, letting the others see the highly damaged insides. "As you can see, the engines are severely damaged, and have a great deal of wear and tear on the internal parts. But the main problem is that the engines are conflicting with each other; since the Me 163 Komet and the Me 262 V1 were both prototypes, the engines were imperfect, and as a result, magic distribution becomes unstable during use." Ursula explained, much to the shock of the other Witches. "But that doesn't explain why there's so much wear and tear on the engines…"

I think I can answer that." Mio spoke up, getting the attention of the others present. "Early this morning, I saw Yoshika training with a broom." Tri-Edge's eyes widened in shock; she never sensed Mio at all. "She was only able to float around two inches of the ground… when she busted the broom." Tri-Edge looked down, thinking that Mio was disappointed with her. "I called my old teacher, Anna Ferrara, and asked her what that meant. Her answer was that the broom broke because Yoshika's magical power was too much for the broom to handle. In other words, she overloaded it with her magic."

"Overload…" Ursula trailed off, before her eyes widened. "Wait a minute!" she yelled, opening another maintenance hatch on the Strikers. Peering inside, she saw what she was looking for.

There was a red light coming from a bulb next to the word "Limiter".

"It can't be… the limiter engaged!" Ursula called out, shocking all the other Witches present (except Tri-Edge, who didn't know what a limiter was).

"WHAT!?" all the other Witches, minus Tri-Edge, yelled.

Mio suddenly realized the two problems. "I got it! There were two problems. The first one was with the Komet Mk. II itself; the engines were imperfect, and were conflicting with each other. The second problem was Yoshika's magic; her magical power was too much for the Komet Mk. II to handle, and was what caused the wear and tear on the engines. It eventually got to the point that the limiters engaged to prevent permanent damage to the engines!" Mio explained.

All the others, this time including Tri-Edge, widened their eyes at the answer.

Tri-Edge spoke first. "…So, you mean to tell me that I can never fly again…?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

Mio was shocked. "No! That's not…!" she started, but Tri-Edge ignored her as she ran out of the hangar and went to the room that she and Mio shared.

Minna sighed. "Maybe you should talk to her." Minna suggested.

"I'll go do that." Mio replied, before running off after her little sister-figure.

* * *

Mio found Tri-Edge curled up on the bed that the two shared. She walked over to her, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she sat down on the bed next to her. "Yoshika… are you all right?" Mio asked worriedly.

Tri-Edge turned to look at Mio, before she threw herself at her, hugging Mio tightly as she cried her heart out.

Mio was taken by surprise; it seemed that Tri-Edge loved flying almost more than anything else in the world.

Not knowing what to do in a situation like this, Mio hugged her little sister, hoping to ease the pain she was feeling.

Ten minutes later, Tri-Edge stopped crying, and fell into a deep sleep, all the exhaustion of the day finally catching up to her. Mio tucked her in, and got into bed herself, quickly falling asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Mio woke up, only to see that Tri-Edge was absent. Mio got out of bed and got dressed. She then walked towards the hangar, where she knew Tri-Edge was at.

She was right, because as soon as she walked into the hangar, Mio saw Tri-Edge looking at the Komet Mk. II sadly.

Mio walked up to her. "Hey there, Yoshika…" she greeted.

Tri-Edge turned to face her. "…Big sis…" she greeted back, before turning her attention back to the Komet Mk. II.

Mio looked at her sadly; seeing Tri-Edge look so down was breaking her heart, and that wasn't an easy thing to do since she lived for the battlefield.

That was when Ursula rushed in. "Mio! Tri-Edge! Two letters have arrived from the Miyafuji family!" Ursula exclaimed. "They're originally from Dr. Miyafuji!"

Mio's eyes widened in shock. "From the professor?!"

Tri-Edge was also shocked. "From daddy?!"

Ursula opened up the letters, but instead found blueprints. Looking at the blueprints, Ursula's eyes widened. "These aren't letters… these are blueprints! One of them is for the final version of the rocket engines, while the other is meant to take the Me 262 beyond the prototype stage!"

"Shall we send the blueprints to Karlsland, then?" Mio asked.

"I think we should, but first…" Ursula trailed off, before noticing a folded note at the bottom of the first blueprint. Unfolding the note, Ursula's eyes widened to nearly impossible proportions.

"What is it?" Mio asked.

"How… how does the professor always seem to be ten steps ahead of us…?" Ursula asked. "These are plans on how to successfully combine the two Strikers!" she exclaimed. She then turned to Tri-Edge. "Do you know what this means? It means we can fix and enhance the Komet Mk. II!"

Tri-Edge's eyes widened. "…Really…? I…I can fly again…?" she asked hesitantly.

Ursula nodded, an excited look on her face as she kept looking at the third blueprint. She found a note at the bottom. Reading it, her eyes widened again at how far ahead Dr. Miyafuji thought ahead. "There's a note at the bottom of this one! It says "Please give this combined Striker to my daughter. Only then, will her true potential be unlocked."."

Mio's eyes widened. "Just how far did he think ahead?!"

Ursula turned to Mio. "I need you to close off the hangar for the next few days. Tri-Edge and I will be working on completing this new Striker Unit, and we don't want ANY interruptions. Send us our food when it's time to eat, because we will be working constantly on this project. I haven't been this excited in years!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Driven by Revenge, Tri-Edge**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 9: Higher Than the Sky**

* * *

It has been four days since Ursula and Tri-Edge started their work on Tri-Edge's new Striker Unit, and thanks to the mysterious letters that were sent by Dr. Miyafuji, progress was coming along nicely.

"Tri-Edge, pass me that screwdriver, will you?" Ursula asked as she worked on the magic distributor for the new Striker Unit.

"Sure thing." Tri-Edge responded, handing Ursula the screwdriver that she needed.

"Thanks." Ursula said as she worked on assembling the part she was working with.

That was when the Neuroi alarm went off.

Ursula sighed. "Damn. I was hoping to have more time on working on the new Striker." She and Tri-Edge then stopped what they were doing and went to the briefing room, with Tri-Edge staying close to Ursula.

* * *

_20 Minutes Later_

Ursula, Eila, Perrine, Lynne, Lucchini, Shirley, Trude, and Mio took off from the hangar to intercept the Neuroi.

"Be careful out there!" Tri-Edge called to them as they left.

* * *

Eila was humming a song to herself as she effortlessly dodged a constant barrage of beams while shooting at the numerous small diamond-shaped Neuroi, destroying them left and right.

Ursula, who had her shield up, couldn't help but look at Eila worriedly before flying next to her. "Eila, not using a shield is dangerous."

"Huh?" Eila asked, an annoyed look on her face. "Haven't you been watching?" Eila then flew straight up to intercept another swarm of Neuroi.

Firing on a few and getting their attention, Eila dived down to treetop level, weaving between the trees as she fired on the Neuroi before climbing back to her previous altitude. "And there you have it." Eila said as she was surrounded by the Neuroi, which then shattered.

"In-Incredible!" Ursula exclaimed.

* * *

Mio was looking around with her Magic Eye, trying to find the Core.

"That's all of them?" Shirley asked; to her, this encounter was too easy to be true.

"Looks like we shot down most of them." Trude replied. "But this is odd. There's no response."

"They're all drones." Mio said as Ursula and Eila flew up next to them. "We're looking for the one in command."

"So it's still fully operational?" Perrine asked.

"Sure we didn't shoot it down at some point?" Lucchini asked.

"Once the Neuroi controlling them is gone, they should vanish." Lynne replied.

That was when Mio sensed something from behind. Turning around, she gasped, getting the attention of the other Witches who also turned around.

There, behind a mountain range, was an extremely tall, tower-shaped Neuroi.

"What is that thing?" Shirley asked.

"It goes right up through the clouds!" Ursula exclaimed.

"Could that be the Neuroi controlling them?" Trude asked.

"You girls, wait here." Mio ordered as she flew straight up, along the side of the enormous Neuroi.

Finding herself over the clouds, Mio was shocked that she still couldn't see the top of the Neuroi. "Such high altitude…" Mio mused as she used her Magic Eye to try looking at the top, where she saw a red light. "Is that the Core?"

That was when Mio's Striker Unit started sputtering, getting her attention. "I guess I can't go any higher." Mio said to herself, letting herself drop to a lower altitude. "This is going to be a pain." She then contacted the waiting Witches that were below. "We're retreating. Return to base."

"But the enemy is still…" Perrine tried to argue.

"We'll adjust our plan back at base." Mio replied. "We've been out too long today. We won't make it back to base if we don't leave soon."

* * *

The sun was setting as the Witches were making their way back to base. Eila was holding onto a small twig, getting Ursula's attention.

"What is that?" Ursula asked, flying next to Eila.

"What's the big idea?" Eila asked, moving away.

"Is it some sort of branch?" Ursula asked, following Eila's movements.

"Leave me alone. It's nothing." Eila countered, barrel-rolling away.

Ursula tried to follow through with the maneuver. "Where did you find it? Why did you have it?" Ursula's curiosity was growing with each unanswered question.

"What difference does it make?" Eila asked in annoyance as she repeatedly flew away from Ursula.

"Would it kill you to just show it to me?" Ursula asked, before she stopped trying to catch Eila. "How can you move so quickly, Eila?"

Eila got a smug look on her face. "It's not just quickness that lets me move like this. I have magic that lets me see into the future. Whether it's you or the enemy, I know exactly what the next move will be. Have you been paying any attention?"

Ursula nodded.

Eila still had a smug look on her face. "I don't like to brag, but I've never used a shield during battle. People dependent on them are second-tier to me."

"That's not fair!" Ursula yelled. "Some people in my old unit said that I'm only good for my shield!" It was true; Ursula had a larger and stronger shield than most Witches could ever hope to achieve.

"_Don't be so mean to her, Eila."_ Sanya's voice said in their intercoms, getting their attention. Looking forwards, they saw Sanya approaching them. "Welcome back, everyone."

"Sanya." Both Eila and Ursula said at the same time as Sanya flew up next to them.

"Oh, so you're on night patrol." Eila said.

"Yes." Sanya answered, before Mio flew next to them.

"Hold on, Sanya. You're relieved of tonight's duties. Head back to base with the rest." Mio ordered.

"Yes, ma'am." Sanya said as the group of Witches flew back to base.

* * *

"We received a communique from mission control." Minna said as she poured some tea.

"About the Neuroi we faced today?" Mio asked.

"Yes." Minna answered. "I'm sure they're looking for results about defeating this Neuroi."

"Shall we show them what we're capable of?" Mio asked with a grin on her face.

* * *

In the hangar, Tri-Edge was looking at the rocket launcher that Sanya uses. "Carrying this big thing around all the time must really be difficult, huh, Sanya?" Tri-Edge asked.

Sanya shook her head. "Not really. I'm used to it."

"Sanya has night patrol by herself a lot." Eila explained. "She uses the Fliegerhammer here when she has to fight."

"Wow, that's amazing." Lynne, who was standing next to Tri-Edge, said.

"But I bet it's less lonely with someone else, right?" Tri-Edge asked.

Sanya smiled at that. "Yeah."

Eila then remembered something. "Oh, yeah…" Reaching into her pocket and pulling out the twig from earlier, she handed it to Sanya. "Here…" Eila said, offering the twig.

"Isn't that the twig from earlier?" Ursula asked, walking up to them.

"Is that a conifer twig?" Lynne asked.

"Take this, Sanya." Eila said, ignoring both Ursula and Lynne.

"But it's just a twig." Tri-Edge said.

Sanya smiled and accepted the twig, holding it in her hand. "Thank you, Eila." Sanya said.

This drew confused looks from Lynne, Ursula, and Tri-Edge.

"Where we were flying today, there's a cypress forest just ahead." Eila explained. "It kind of looked the way Orussia does in the winter."

"There were a bunch of those trees where I used to live." Sanya said.

"Yeah?" Lynne asked.

"Really?" Tri-Edge also asked.

Ursula, meanwhile, was thinking about what she just learned. _'If Eila brought Sanya a twig from a cypress forest just to make her smile, then…'_ Ursula's eyes widened before they gained a mischievous glint. _'I think I just scored myself some blackmail material. But I need to confirm it first. If it's true, then I can finally get back at her for that prank she pulled on me!'_

* * *

All the Witches were in the briefing room with the lights turned off and a projector showing a photo of the Neuroi that was encountered earlier.

"Air force spy planes took these photographs." Mio began.

"It just looks like a bunch of noise." Trude said.

"This is the Neuroi we spotted this afternoon." Mio explained while holding a meter stick. "This is what happened when they tried to photograph the whole thing. Estimates put it at over thirty thousand meters tall."

"Thirty thousand?!" Trude exclaimed.

"So it reaches an altitude of thirty kilometers?" Shirley asked.

"Um, so compared to Mt. Fuji, it's…" Tri-Edge tried to compare the height difference between the two.

Another picture was displayed on the projector, this time showing a map of Britannia. "It's slowly cruising toward London, at a rate of ten kilometers per hour." Mio said as another picture of the Neuroi was displayed. "The difficult part is about its Core's location." Mio then pointed the meter stick she was holding at the very top of the Neuroi, which looked like an obelisk. "Here."

"The very top?" Trude asked.

"Yes. I verified it myself." Mio said.

"But our Striker Units top out at ten thousand meters." Perrine said.

Mio nodded. "Right. So for this mission, we'll need to use this." Another photo was displayed, this time showing the schematics of an external rocket booster. "A rocket booster."

Tri-Edge and Ursula, at the word "rocket", immediately remembered the original Me 163 Komet Striker Unit, the Komet Mk. II, and the Komet Mk. III that the two were currently working on.

"Then we'll be able to fly up to the Core?" Shirley asked.

"No, I don't think it'll be that simple." Trude said.

"Right. Eila said.

"The booster is quite powerful, but it consumes magic power at a very high rate." Minna explained. "We'll only be able to fly for a short while."

"Then we should carry someone part of the way up." Trude said.

"Precisely." Mio said.

"But thirty thousand meters up, there won't be any air." Shirley said.

Lucchini got worried at that. "What? No air?"

"Then we won't be able to talk, either." Erica pointed out.

"Oh, that's probably true." Shirley said, agreeing with Erica.

Lucchini grew even more worried. "What?! No sound?"

"Thirty thousand meters is unknown territory, well beyond the highest altitude record." Minna said.

"But we're Witches. There is nothing Witches can't do." Mio countered, before the projector turned off and the lights turned on. "So the one best suited for extensive and momentary combat is… Sanya. I'd like you to attack the Core."

"Huh?" Eila asked.

"You're Fliegerhammer is critical to this operation." Mio pointed out.

Eila raised her hand. "Excuse me! I'd like to go with her, then." Eila said, volunteering.

Mio blinked. "Oh, right. Eila, have you ever used a shield, by any chance?" Mio asked.

Eila blinked. "A shield?" Eila asked, before gaining a smug look on her face. "I don't mean to brag, but I've never once used a shield in combat."

"Then you can't go." Mio said.

Eila nodded. "Yeah, exactly." Two seconds later, Mio's words registered in Eila's head. "What?"

"Yeah, that's not going to do." Minna said.

Eila stood up. "Wh-Why not?" Eila asked.

"Besides using the booster, this mission will demand survival ability in extreme conditions, as well as skills for dealing with high levels of magic power consumption." Minna explained.

"In other words, Sanya will not be able to put any focus on protecting herself." Mio elaborated. "We'll need one other person to protect Sanya up there."

"I-It's not like I'm _not_ able to use a shield!" Eila yelled.

"But you've never done it in combat." Mio pointed out.

"That's right." Eila said, placing her hands on her hips.

"That won't cut it." Minna sighed.

Mio placed a hand on her head in deep thought. A few seconds later, she made her decision. "I would like to ask Yoshika to go, but she doesn't have a Striker Unit to use. That leaves Ursula as my next choice. Ursula, you're going."

"Yes, ma'am!" Ursula said, and then blinked. "Wait, what?"

"From the reports I got from your old unit, you're able to deploy very strong shields." Mio said.

"Right…" Ursula said, before sensing someone moving next to her. Looking to her right, she saw Eila right in her face, with a part-angry, part-jealous look on her face.

Ursula blinked at that. '_Wait a second… part-jealous? That just confirms my earlier thoughts. I finally got some blackmail!'_ On the outside, Ursula's face was impassive, but inside she was cackling like a deranged woman at the thought of some payback.

Most of the Witches then left the room; the only ones left were Ursula, Tri-Edge, Mio, and Eila. Eila pointed a finger at Ursula. "Listen here, you-" Eila started, but was cut off.

"About that conifer twig you gave Sanya…" Ursula interrupted, managing to keep a straight face. "Something's up. You're usually never like that."

Eila instantly shut up. Internally, she was sweating up a storm. _'Don't tell me she knows about my feelings for Sanya, does she?!'_ Eila thought worriedly.

That was when Ursula shrugged. "But maybe I'm just overthinking about it." Ursula then got up and walked to the open door.

Mio knew something was up, but decided to see how it would play out.

Eila breathed an internal sigh of relief. _'That was close. At first I thought-'_ Eila's train of thought was derailed at that moment.

The reason?

Because right as Ursula reached the door, she allowed a vicious smirk to spread across her face. Spinning around and cupping her hands around her mouth as a makeshift microphone, Ursula yelled, "Eila and Sanya, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Eila froze, sporting a massive blush on her face at the mental image. Shaking off that thought, she whirled around to see that Ursula was already running out the door while laughing like a madwoman.

"GET BACK HERE!" Eila screamed, tearing after Ursula.

"First comes love, then comes marriage…" Ursula's voice trailed off in the distance as she continued laughing.

Mio was able to keep a straight face, but as soon as Ursula and Eila were out of ear-shot, she busted out laughing. "Oh, man! I've been waiting for someone to do that for years now!"

Tri-Edge tilted her head in confusion; what was her big sister talking about?

* * *

The next morning, Perrine, Lynne, and Eila were up in the air.

Lynne was aiming her sniper cannon at Eila. "U-Um… Are you sure about this?" Lynne asked nervously.

"I'm sure. Please do it." Perrine replied; this was the plan that she and Eila came up with last night. Since Eila desperately wants to go up with Sanya, this plan is an attempt to make her use a shield.

"B-But…" Lynne hesitated.

"Okay! Eila, pretend I'm Sanya and protect me." Perrine said, as she was behind Eila.

Eila got an annoyed look on her face. "Huh? Pretend you're Sanya?"

"Are you… Are you really sure about this?" Lynne asked again.

"Just do it, already!" Perrine yelled.

"O-Okay!" Lynne replied, firing her sniper cannon directly at Eila.

Eila perked up, before leaning back to dodge the anti-tank round.

Perrine panicked, throwing up a shield as quickly as she could, barely blocking the large bullet in time.

"A-Are you all right?" Lynne asked worriedly.

"Why did you dodge it?!" Perrine yelled at Eila. "This training is pointless if you dodge it!"

"Sorry." Eila said. "But you weren't getting fully into it."

Perrine was livid at this point. "Just who do you think I'm putting my life on the line for?! Lynne, just shoot already!"

"B-But…" Lynne hesitated; worried that she might hit Perrine by mistake.

"I said, do it!" Perrine shouted.

"O-Okay!" Lynne replied, firing her sniper cannon again.

Eila kept dodging the shots, forcing Perrine to keep up her shield.

On the ground, Erica and Trude were watching the supposed training session.

"Wow… I can't do that." Erica said.

"I never thought her skill would actually put her at a disadvantage." Trude mused.

That was when Tri-Edge, who was taking a short break from working on the Komet Mk. III with Ursula, walked up to them. She looked up at the training session that was taking place. "Why is Eila dancing in front of a shield?" Tri-Edge, who couldn't see Lynne (since she was hovering on the other side of the base), asked innocently, with a cute tilt to her head.

For Trude, who was a natural Siscon, it took all of her willpower to not shout "Cute!" and glomp the poor girl.

* * *

Eila walked into the living room of the base where she saw a coat laying on the bench. "Huh? This is…"

"Your coat, isn't it?" Sanya asked, walking into the room and getting Eila's attention. "It's cold up in the stratosphere."

"Oh, I see." Eila replied. "It's been forever since I've worn it."

"So how did it go?" Sanya asked.

"Huh?" Eila asked, confused.

"Perrine's training." Sanya clarified.

"O-Oh? You knew?" Eila asked.

"Did it go well?" Sanya asked.

Eila laughed nervously. "No. It went terribly."

"I see." Sanya replied.

That was when Eila noticed something. "You're taking three scarves with you?" Eila asked.

"Oh, these?" Sanya asked, looking at the three scarves in her hands. "These are for you, me, and Ursula."

Eila recoiled. "Ursula?"

"When Ursula was transferred here from Karlsland, it was on short notice, so she didn't have time to properly pack." Sanya explained. "So I'd figured I'd lend it to her. But… I wish you were able to deploy shields, too."

"Not gonna happen." Eila said quickly.

"Huh?" Sanya asked, her eyes starting to water.

"You can't force something you aren't used to doing." Eila replied.

"So you're giving up, Eila?" Sanya asked sadly.

"You can't do what you can't do, no matter how hard you try." Eila said.

"You can't just say you can't do it and give up!" Sanya replied. "You just can't do it because you've given up…"

"Ursula cod do it all along, so just let her protect you!" Eila shouted.

Sanya gasped. "You're so stupid, Eila!"

"And you're so stubborn, Sanya!" Eila shouted back. Quickly realizing what she said, Eila gasped.

That was when Sanya threw a pillow right into Eila's face. She then ran out of the room, tears streaming down her face.

* * *

Two days later, Shirley was in the hangar, grinning at the sight of a Lucchini dressed in multiple layers of clothing. "Looking good, Lucchini."

"It's so hot like this…" Lucchini complained.

"Bear with it, Lucchini. The stratosphere is super-cold." Shirley said.

"I hate the cold!" Lucchini complained again.

Shirley laughed, and pulled out a pair of ear muffs. "Now put these on." She said, putting the ear muffs over Lucchini's ears.

Nearby, Ursula was wearing a gray coat that was three sizes too big for her. "Umm… Trude, I think this coat is a bit too big for me."

"Better than no coat at all." Perrine replied.

Trude noticed several cups of tea that were sitting on a table. "What's all that?" Trude asked.

"I decided to try making some ginger tea." Lynne answered. "It's supposed to warm up your body."

"Oh, I see." Trude replied.

"How is it?" Lynne asked as everyone drank their tea. "I used a lot of sugar, so it should be easy to drink."

"You weren't kidding…" Erica said, disgusted at the taste.

"Oh, but it's not as sweet as I expected." Trude replied, before her face scrunched up.

"I'll have another cup!" Minna replied, while Perrine had a disgusted look on her face.

That was when Mio walked into the hangar, carrying her spare Striker Unit, which got the attention of the rest of the Witches.

"Why did you bring your spare Striker in here?" Shirley asked.

Mio, her mind set on her current task, didn't hear Shirley's question. Instead, she then walked over to the crate that held the rocket boosters and pulled out ten of them. Then, much to the Witches' shock, Mio installed all ten on her spare Striker Unit, with five per leg mount.

"Are you nuts?!" Trude yelled. "You aren't seriously going to fly using ten boosters at once, right?!"

"Hmm?" Mio asked, finally hearing someone as her task was finished. "Oh, these? They're for Yoshika's use in the strategy. You see, I ordered an extra twelve to be sent over in case "any were damaged in transit"." Mio said, putting air quotes at the words "any were damaged in transit". "In reality, they're for Yoshika's use."

The Witches were in shock, but Ursula noticed something. "Wait a minute. You said twelve. I only see ten."

The other Witches also noticed that there were only ten boosters attached to the Striker Unit instead of twelve. "Where are the other two?" Erica asked.

"Over there." Mio replied, pointing to a table where the two mentioned boosters were sitting.

"Why aren't you using them as well?" Minna asked.

"Look inside them and you'll find out." Mio replied as she left the hangar.

The Witches did just that, with Ursula opening the maintenance hatch on the rocket booster. Looking inside, she gasped in shock. "It's… It's damaged beyond repair!" Ursula exclaimed in shock, catching all the other Witches off-guard.

That was when Mio walked back into the hangar, with Tri-Edge in tow. "You're probably wondering how that damage occurred, right?" Mio asked. Earning a series of nods, Mio explained. "When Yoshika learned about the boosters, she asked me if she could try them out. I agreed, but during the test, they were damaged beyond repair. Now, do you want to know what the scary part is?"

The Witches, after a moment's hesitation, nodded.

"All that damage occurred in only twenty seconds flat, AND Yoshika wasn't using all of her magical strength." Mio finished.

Ursula went as pale as a ghost. "O-O-Only twenty seconds?! And not even using all of her strength?!"

Mio nodded, much to the fright of the other Witches. "It seems as though Yoshika's magic is increasing in both the amount and potent. It was far too much for a single pair of boosters to handle."

Ursula's eyes widened in realization. "THAT'S IT!" she shouted, surprising the others. "That explains the huge number of reverse-limiters on Tri-Edge's new Striker Unit!" Earning confused looks, Ursula elaborated. "Normal limiters act as a safeguard to the magic engine, preventing permanent damage in the case of an overload. Reverse-limiters, on the other hand, act like super-powered resistors, similar to those found on an electric circuit. The reverse-limiters decrease both the amount of magic and the magic potent that goes into the Striker Unit. For a normal Witch like Trude or Perrine, only one reverse-limiter is needed to completely nullify your magic. For a Witch like me, though, it would take two to three reverse limiters to completely nullify my magic." This shocked the others, but she wasn't done yet. "The problem is, due to Tri-Edge's immense amount of magic, we needed to install _twenty_ reverse limiters just to lower her output to a level that the new Komet Mk. III can handle. To completely nullify it, we'll need _thirty_ reverse-limiters!"

* * *

Thirty minutes later, the Witches went into position on the runway, with Ursula, Sanya, and Tri-Edge on top with their Strikers on a special stand, Eila, Lucchini, Perrine, and Lynne beneath them with their Strikers on another special stand, and the rest of the Witches below them. Mio explained the plan. "The mission will start with launch group #1, five girls, with normal propulsion to bring them up to ten thousand meters. Launch group #1 will detach, as they top out at ten thousand meters. Launch group #2 will then quickly ignite the rocket booster. Ursula and Sanya, along with Yoshika, will be lifted up to twenty thousand meters. Then Yoshika will light her boosters and carry Ursula and Sanya, the attacking group up to 33,333 meters up the location of the Neuroi's Core. Sanya, you are to fire directly at the Core while Ursula protects you."

Trude narrowed her eyes slightly at the information. "Altitude: thirty thousand meters. Temperature: minus seventy degrees. No air… Without magic, you'd die in a second. There's no guarantee that you'll make it back alive."

Minna began the countdown. "Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One!" At "one", Mio, Minna, Erica, Trude, and Shirley fired up their Striker Units to the max that they can go, lifting the human rocket off the ground. When the group reached ten thousand meters, the first launch group detached from the human rocket, with Trude holding onto the special stand that launch group #2 was previously standing on. Launch group #2 then ignited their rocket boosters.

When the group reached twenty thousand meters, they detached from the human rocket as well. Tri-Edge took that as the signal to ignite all ten of her rocket boosters, beginning to lift up the attacking group to the target altitude. Sanya glanced back, looking at Eila.

Eila couldn't take it anymore. "No! I'll… I'll protect Sanya!" Eila declared, firing up her rocket boosters to their maximum yield.

"What are you doing, Eila?" Sanya asked as she looked at her.

"You said it yourself." Eila answered. "That I couldn't do it because I gave up. I don't want to give up. I will protect you!"

Ursula looked at Tri-Edge, and nodded, a smile on her face. Tri-Edge smiled as well, before she detached from the group and looped around. Coming up from behind Eila, Tri-Edge wrapped her arms around Eila's waist, before firing her boosters at their maximum yield. Once the two reached the attacking group and attached themselves, Ursula (because at this point, there was hardly any air) motioned Eila to cut power to her boosters, who did so. After twenty more seconds, the now group of four reached the target attitude of 33,333 meters. Ursula and Tri-Edge, after seeing that their part was done, detached from the new attacking group and, after pushing them into the direction of the Neuroi, allowed themselves to drop back down to Earth.

Eila and Sanya smiled at each other, before noticing the very top of the tower-like Neuroi unwind its outer shell to expose its Core, with the outer shell forming into four rotating pillar-like structures that each fired a beam into the Core, where the energy was intensified before a very powerful beam was fired from the Core.

By this time, Ursula and Tri-Edge had formed up with the rest of the Witches, with Mio holding onto Tri-Edge because her rocket boosters were already internally damaged beyond repair, and trying to use Striker Unit itself would only cause her to drop out of the sky due to the limiter engaging. All the Witches looked up, just in time to see Eila, for the first time in her life, throw up a shield, protecting both her and Sanya.

Sanya, grateful that it was Eila who was protecting her, took the chance to aim her Fliegerhammer at the Neuroi's Core, and waited for the beam to lose power. Once it did, Sanya let loose her entire arsenal of rockets; if she missed, she wouldn't get a second chance. Luckily for her, every rocket impacted the Core shattering it and destroying the Neuroi.

After descending to a lower altitude, Eila asked, "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah." Sanya answered.

"I'm sorry." Eila apologized.

"I'm sorry, too." Sanya apologized as well.

* * *

The next afternoon, Ursula called all the Witches to the runway.

"Why are we out here?" Eila asked the question that was on everybody's mind.

"And where's Yoshika?" Mio asked.

Ursula grinned, and looked to her left.

This caused the Witches to look in the direction that Ursula was facing, only to see a rapidly approaching glint in the distance.

"Is that…" Trude started.

"Tri-Edge?" Minna finished.

The figure flew past them at a speed of Mach 2. It was only for an instant, but all the Witches saw that it was Tri-Edge, and the Striker Unit that she was flying looked like an upgraded form of the Komet Mk. II.

"I present you… the Komet Mk. III!" Ursula declared as Tri-Edge landed next to her.


End file.
